Category Archives: Voting Rights Act

“Manchin, Murkowski call on Congress to reauthorize Voting Rights Act”

May 17, 2021, 1:19 pmVoting Rights ActRick Hasen

NBC News: Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, wrote a letter Monday calling on Congress to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act, seeking to jump-start a debate on a bipartisan path to bolstering voting access.“Protecting Americans’ access… Continue reading

“Democrats confront reality on voting rights: Congress probably isn’t coming to the rescue”

May 17, 2021, 7:29 amVoting Rights ActRick Hasen

WaPo: Yet the most important Democrat to the fate of voting legislation didn’t even attend the meeting and thus wasn’t part of the discussion. Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) was in his home state, attending an event with first lady… Continue reading

“Manchin to support measured voting reform in lieu of sweeping Democratic proposal”

May 13, 2021, 7:11 amVoting Rights ActRick Hasen

ABC: Sen. Joe Manchin is breaking with Democrats and throwing his weight behind a more measured voting rights bill in lieu of the sweeping Democratic voting reform bill that Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has labeled a top priority of… Continue reading

“GOP’s Voting Curbs Show Long Reach of 2013 Supreme Court Ruling”

May 10, 2021, 6:32 amSupreme Court, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

Bloomberg: Republicans across the U.S. can thank the Supreme Court and Chief Justice John Roberts as they enact the country’s most significant voting restrictions in generations.The court’s watershed 2013 Shelby County ruling created a glide path for many of… Continue reading

A Debate over Race-Blind Redistricting

April 30, 2021, 6:54 amVoting Rights Act, vra renewal guest bloggingRichard Pildes

In an important earlier piece, Jowei Chen and Nick Stephanopoulus took advantage of modern technology to explore what a system of race-blind districting would generate in terms of the number of minority-opportunity election districts. Moon Duchin and Doug Spencer have… Continue reading

“Black Democrats, Conflicted on a Voting Rights Push, Fear It’s Too Late”

April 26, 2021, 6:53 amVoting Rights ActRick Hasen

NYT: Now, as Republican state lawmakers across the country push new restrictions on voting, Democrats are hitting back. In Congress, the party is pushing a colossal elections system overhaul that would take redistricting out of the hands of politicians, introduce… Continue reading

“Black Democrats urge party to shift its voting rights push”

April 22, 2021, 7:34 amredistricting, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

Politico: Democrats have spent months touting an expansive proposal that would reshape U.S. elections. But with the bill’s Senate prospects growing more dire, key members of the Congressional Black Caucus are pushing to narrow their strategy.The massive election reform… Continue reading

“Kristen Clarke faced abuse for taking on Trump. Now she’s poised to lead Justice Department’s civil rights team.”

April 13, 2021, 8:08 pmVoting Rights ActRick Hasen

WaPo: On Wednesday, Clarke will appear at a Senate confirmation hearing as President Biden’s nominee to lead the Justice Department’s civil rights division. She is poised to become the first woman confirmed to helm what former attorney general Eric H.… Continue reading

“An under-the-radar voting rights bill in Congress could prevent the election fight in Georgia from happening again”

April 8, 2021, 7:39 amThe Voting Wars, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

Jon Ward for Yahoo News: The political battles over voting laws are at a new fever pitch, with Democrats accusing Republicans of trying to suppress participation by minority voters, and Republicans accusing Democrats of hyperbole and bad-faith objections.Voting experts say… Continue reading

“Judge rules against much of Georgia voting lawsuit over 2018 election”

April 7, 2021, 8:13 amVoting Rights ActRick Hasen

AJC reports.

“If It’s Not Jim Crow, What Is It?”

April 6, 2021, 6:40 amVoting Rights ActRick Hasen

Jamelle Bouie NYT column: The laws that disenfranchised Black Americans in the South and established Jim Crow did not actually say they were disenfranchising Black Americans and creating a one-party racist state.I raise this because of a debate among… Continue reading

“Virginia, the Old Confederacy’s Heart, Becomes a Voting Rights Bastion”

April 2, 2021, 6:53 amVoting Rights ActRick Hasen

NYT: Georgia has sharply limited voting access, making drop boxes less available and forbidding anyone to hand out water to voters in line. Florida and Texas are poised to advance similar legislation. Alabama’s strict voter identification law is being … Continue reading

“N.Y. School Board Owes NAACP $5 Million in Voting Case Fees”

April 2, 2021, 6:48 amVoting Rights ActRick Hasen

Bloomberg Law: The East Ramapo Central School District in New York must pay more than $5 million in attorneys’ fees, expert witness fees, and costs to a local branch of the NAACP and four voters who successfully sued it for… Continue reading

Doug Spencer: A Rare Purposive Reading of the Voting Rights Act

April 1, 2021, 7:02 amVoting Rights ActRick Hasen

The following is a guest post from Doug Spencer: There has been a lot of attention lately on the impending narrowing of Section 2 of the VRA, from redistricting to vote denial cases. Thus, I wanted to flag yesterday’s opinion… Continue reading