Category Archives: Voting Rights Act
“Free at Last: Rejecting Equal Sovereignty and Restoring the Constitutional Right to Vote: Shelby County v. Holder”
James Blacksher and Lani Guinier have posted this draft on SSRN (forthcoming, Harvard Law and Policy Review). Here is the abstract:
The “equal sovereignty” principle the Supreme Court majority relied on in Shelby County v. Holder to strike down the… Continue reading
Roll Call on Whether Cantor Will Support New Voting Rights Act
Cantor Non-Committal, Hoyer Optimistic, on VRAA Bill
Cantor is the key player in the House on whether we will see a legislative response to fix the Voting Rights Act after the Supreme Court hobbled a key provision last June in the Shelby County case.
“Santa Clarita Votes To Settle California Voting Rights Act Lawsuit”
And cumulative voting is in the mix.
“Protecting Voting Rights in Alabama”
NAACP LDF:
As part of our efforts to protect the right to vote across the country, LDF’s Political Participation Group wrote a letter to the Alabama Secretary of State, Jim Bennett, urging him to allow thousands of people to… Continue reading
Senator Ted Cruz Distorts Supreme Court’s Voting Rights Holding
By all indications Sen.Ted Cruz is a brilliant lawyer. So I take his mischaracterizing of the Supreme Court’s Shelby County case as being disingenuous and not simply misguided. Sen. Cruz writes:
It is disturbing that new efforts are being made… Continue reading
“Harkin: DOJ Civil Rights Nominee Would Have Been Confirmed If He Was White”
HuffPo reports. I have no doubt about that.
James O’Keefe Goes After Sensenbrenner on Provisions of Voting Rights Act Amendments
See J. Christian Adams in the National Review.
“Justice Ginsburg’s Umbrella”
Ellen Katz has posted this draft on SSRN (forthcoming, A Nation of Widening Opportunities? The Civil Rights Act at Fifty, Samuel Bagenstos and Ellen Katz, eds., University of Michigan Press, 2014). Here is the abstract:
This Essay relies on an… Continue reading
“Voting Rights Advocates Try to Put Oversight Back on the Map”
DOJ Changes Its Page Describing Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act
On February 17 I noted that the DOJ page on Section 5 gave no indication that Shelby County had been decided and that section 5 was no longer being enforced against previously covered jurisdictions.
The page has now been updated,… Continue reading
Quote of the Day: Why We Still Need VRA Preclearance Edition
“No, ma’am. I don’t vote for black people. They got their place, I got my place.”
–Lousiana voter, interviewed by NPR in Democratic Sen. Landrieu Walks A Fine Line In Red Louisiana
(h/t Adam Serwer)
“CQ Researcher Voting Controversies v.24-8”
Ken Jost has produced a marvelous primer for CQ Researcher on voting controversies. You can purchase it as a stand-alone (or if you are part of a university or organization you may have a subscription). Here’s the abstract:
Election laws… Continue reading