Category Archives: Voting Rights Act

Breaking: Three-Judge District Court Finds Alabama’s Congressional Redistricting Plan Intentionally Discriminated Against Black Voters Updated

May 8, 2025, 12:43 pmcourt decisions, redistricting, Uncategorized, Voting Rights ActTravis Crum

The court’s 571-page opinion is here. This decision is on remand from the Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling in Allen v. Milligan. This is the latest decision in the long-running Section 2 litigation against Alabama’s congressional redistricting plans. Back in… Continue reading

“Justice Department will switch its focus on voting and prioritize Trump’s elections order, memo says”

May 6, 2025, 2:22 pmDepartment of Justice, fraudulent fraud squad, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

Missed this Nick Riccardi AP story from the other day: The Justice Department unit that ensures compliance with voting rights laws will switch its focus to investigating voter fraud and ensuring elections are not marred by “suspicion,” according to an… Continue reading

“Trump’s justice department appointees remove managers of voting unit”

April 28, 2025, 7:31 amchicanery, Department of Justice, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

Sam Levine for The Guardian: Donald Trump’s appointees at the Department of Justice have removed all of the senior civil servants working as managers in the department’s voting section and directed attorneys to dismiss all active cases, according to people… Continue reading

MALDEF Files Section 2 Suit Challenging Stanislaus County, California, redistricting plans

April 24, 2025, 6:58 amredistricting, Voting Rights ActTravis Crum

The complaint is here. The press release is here: MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund) filed a challenge to the county’s 2021 Board of Supervisors and Board of Education redistricting plans on behalf of four voters… Continue reading

Pennsylvania: “DOJ drops lawsuit against City of Hazleton”

April 23, 2025, 5:04 amredistricting, Voting Rights ActTravis Crum

Another Section 2 case dropped by the Trump Administration. The Standard Speaker reports: The U.S. Justice Department dropped a lawsuit Monday to stop the City of Hazleton from electing council members at-large, a change that the lawsuit said would give… Continue reading

“A Reprieve for Democracy: Reading Allen v. Milligan on the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act”

April 7, 2025, 9:43 amSupreme Court, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

Deuel Ross has written this fascinating article for the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review. Here is the abstract: Voting is an act of faith. Faith that your vote will matter. Faith that your vote will make a difference.… Continue reading

Trump’s Voting Executive Order and Section 2 of the VRA

March 31, 2025, 12:41 pmVoting Rights ActTravis Crum

Hi everyone. Travis Crum here. Long-time guest blogger. Newly minted contributor. Looking forward to participating in the conversation more. Thanks to Rick for having me. Last week, President Trump issued an Executive Order that risks disenfranchising countless… Continue reading

The Yale Journal Has Just Published My New Feature Article: “The Stagnation, Retrogression, and Potential Pro-Voter Transformation of U.S. Election Law”

March 31, 2025, 7:38 amelection subversion risk, Supreme Court, The Voting Wars, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

I am delighted that the Yale Law Journal has published my new Feature, The Stagnation, Retrogression, and Potential Pro-Voter Transformation of U.S. Election Law, 134 Yale L.J. 1673 (2025). I consider this among the most important work I’ve… Continue reading

“Justice Department instructed to dismiss legal challenge to Georgia election law”

March 31, 2025, 7:26 amDepartment of Justice, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

AP: U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi on Monday instructed the Justice Department to dismiss a lawsuit challenging a sweeping election overhaul that Georgia Republican lawmakers passed in the wake of President Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss in the state. The… Continue reading

“Analyzing the Benefits of Artificial Intelligence to Racially Inclusive Democracy”

March 31, 2025, 7:18 amcheap speech, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

Spencer Overton has posted this draft (which I can’t wait to read) on SSRN (forthcoming, Utah Law Review). Here is the abstract: Over the past two decades—as the United States has grown more ethnically diverse—the U.S. Supreme Court has dismantled… Continue reading

Travis Crum: Callais Oral Argument Recap

March 24, 2025, 2:52 pmSupreme Court, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

The following is a post from Travis Crum: Here’s a recap of today’s oral argument in Louisiana v. Callais. At the outset, a short summary of what Callais is about. Callais is an old-school, 1990s-style Shaw challenge. The Callais… Continue reading

Travis Crum: The Consequences of Overturning Shaw and the Continuing Relevance of Section 2

March 24, 2025, 7:23 amSupreme Court, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

The following is a guest post from Travis Crum: Over the weekend, Rick Pildes published a response to my post—which built on a recent essay—calling on the Supreme Court to overturn Shaw’s racial gerrymandering cause of action in Louisiana … Continue reading

“The federal Voting Rights Act was gutted. States now want their own versions.”

March 21, 2025, 6:58 amVoting Rights ActDerek Muller

Coverage at Stateline.

“Voting Rights Act Enforcement Increases Turnout”

March 6, 2025, 6:46 amVoting Rights ActRick Hasen

New Brennan Center report: Inequities are a persistent feature of U.S. elections. As our colleagues have documented, the gap in voter participation between white and Black Americans has increased since the Supreme Court, through its 2013 Shelby County v. Holder decision,… Continue reading