“Ranked Choice Voting Elections Benefit Candidates and Voters of Color: 2024 Update”
New from FairVote.
Category Archives: Voting Rights Act
My New Piece in the NY Times: “The U.S. Lacks What Every Democracy Needs”
I have written this guest essay (free gift link) for the NY Times (adapted from my upcoming book, A Real Right to Vote). It begins:
The history of voting in the United States shows the high costs of living… Continue reading
“Judge orders new North Dakota legislative district for 2 Native American tribes”
AP:
A federal judge on Monday ordered a new joint North Dakota legislative district for two Native American tribes that successfully argued a map created through redistricting in 2021 violated the Voting Rights Act by diluting their voting strength.
U.S.… Continue reading
Breaking: Federal District Court Holds that Georgia’s New Congressional Redistricting Plan Complies with Remedial Order in Voting Rights Case, Rejecting Plaintiffs’ Objections
You can find the opinion here. The court in a footnote leaves open the possibility that plaintiffs in a new case could make an argument that the failure to create a coalition district under the Legislature’s new plan in… Continue reading
Grewal on Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act
Andy Grewal (Iowa), forthcoming in the Fordham Law Voting Rights and Democracy Forum, Discriminatory Intent Claims Under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Here is the abstract:
This Article addresses a new controversy over whether Section 2 of… Continue reading
Fifth Circuit rejects en banc request to reconsider whether Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act includes a private right of action
After the Eighth Circuit’s decision, there was a question whether the Fifth Circuit en banc might reach a similar conclusion. But no judge asked for the question from Robinson v. Ardoin (which Travis Crum highlighted here) to be… Continue reading
“A fight for Black representation, with a civil rights landmark on the line”
Patrick Marley in the Washington Post on the Voting Rights Act.
Galveston, TX Plaintiffs Go to SCOTUS in Effort to Overturn 5th Circuit Order Putting Voting Rights Redistricting Off for 2024
Breaking: 5th Circuit, Sitting En Banc, and Over 6 Dissenting Votes, Stops Redistricting Remedy for Galveston, Texas for Voting Rights Act Violations; Argument Not Until May [Corrected Headline]
See the order here. The concurring opinion of Judge Oldham leans heavily on Purcell and delay; and yet the majority over the votes of a number of 5th Circuit judges (including Judge Ho) refused to set this case for… Continue reading
Janai Nelson: “Victims and advocates deserve a right to fight through the Voting Rights Act”
It’s a shame Janai had to even write this oped, but that’s where some courts are today:
hutting voters out of the process of vindicating their rights has incalculable implications that could quickly compound. Over the last year alone,… Continue reading
“Georgia redistricting challenges protections of multiracial coalitions”
AJC:
As soon as Georgia’s redrawn political boundaries pass this week, the new maps will likely spark court challenges that could weaken nationwide protections against discrimination in districts where Black voters and other racial groups together make up a majority.… Continue reading
“Louisiana granted extra time to draw new congressional map that complies with Voting Rights Act”
AP:
Louisiana lawmakers now have until the end of January to draw and pass new congressional boundaries to replace a current map that a federal judge said violates the Voting Rights Act by diluting the power of the state’s Black… Continue reading
5th Circuit Will Hear Galveston Redistricting Lawsuit En Banc, Offering Another Chance to Weaken the Voting Rights Act
Here’s the order.
Here’s my earlier coverage:
Breaking: Fifth Circuit Panel, While Affirming that Galveston, Texas Violated the Voting Rights Act, Calls for En Banc Rehearing So They Can Rule Against Galveston
Well this is an interesting (and disturbing) … Continue reading
E.J. Dionne WaPo Column Discusses the Threats to Voting Rights, and the Need for a Constitutional Amendment Protecting the Right to Vote (Citing My Upcoming Book, “A Real Right to Vote”)
E.J. Dionne WaPo column:
In his decision in Shelby, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. claimed that even without a strong Section 4, the Voting Rights Act bans discrimination under Section 2, which “is permanent, applies nationwide, and is not… Continue reading