Category Archives: Voting Rights Act

Lower Brule Sioux Tribe Proves Likely Violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act in Lyman County Commissioner Redistricting

August 11, 2022, 4:33 pmVoting Rights ActRick Hasen

You can find the court’s order on the preliminary injunction at this link. The Tribe and individual voters are represented by the Native American Rights Fund, Public Counsel, the Law Office of Bryan Sells, the Law Office of… Continue reading

Georgia: “Federal judge rules PSC election ‘unlawfully dilutes’ Black voting power”

August 5, 2022, 12:52 pmVoting Rights ActRick Hasen

AJC: A federal judge ruled Friday that Georgia must end statewide elections for the Public Service Commission because they discriminate against Black voters, a decision that could bar state officials from holding a November election to fill two seats.U.S.… Continue reading

Cert. Petition Asserts Racial Gerrymandering of PA State Legislative Districts

July 15, 2022, 5:04 amredistricting, Supreme Court, Uncategorized, Voting Rights ActDan Tokaji

Here’s the question presented by the cert petition in Benninghoff v. 2021 Legislative Reapportionment Commission, brought by Pennsylvania’s Republican House Majority Leader: Pennsylvania’s Legislative Reapportionment Commission admittedly made extensive use of race in constructing up to 14 state legislative… Continue reading

CLC on “The Supreme Court’s Role in the Degradation of U.S. Democracy”

July 13, 2022, 8:07 amcampaign finance, redistricting, Supreme Court, Voting Rights ActDan Tokaji

From the first page of the hard-hitting report, available here, that Campaign Legal Center released today: The time has come to talk about what the Supreme Court is doing to American democracy. For more than half a century—roughly during… Continue reading

“ND Judge Won’t Throw Out Tribes’ Redistricting Suit”

July 8, 2022, 3:35 pmredistricting, Uncategorized, Voting Rights ActDan Tokaji

Law360: “A North Dakota federal judge on Thursday denied the state’s motion to dismiss a suit claiming its new legislative districts dilute Native Americans’ voting rights, ruling the tribes’ right to seek a remedy is embedded in case law.”… Continue reading

“The Supreme Court has chipped away at the Voting Rights Act for 9 years. This case could be the next blow.”

June 27, 2022, 6:08 amVoting Rights ActRick Hasen

Zach Montellaro for Politico: The Voting Rights Act of 1965 has been slowly whittled away over the last decade by the Supreme Court — and a case set to be heard in the fall could shrink the protections offered by… Continue reading

“This is What Nine Years Without the Voting Rights Act Looks Like”

June 23, 2022, 3:39 pmVoting Rights ActRick Hasen

Ryan Suto at FairVote: Without the protection of the Act, shredded by the Court in 2013, 21 states enacted new voting restrictions ahead of the 2016 election, and since the 2020 election at least 18 states have passed new… Continue reading

“Supreme Court Spurns Texas GOP Lawmakers on Voting-Map Testimony”

May 31, 2022, 8:02 amredistricting, Voting Rights ActTabatha Abu El-Haj

Bloomberg Law–The U.S. Supreme Court has rebuffed a request to protect “three Republican lawmakers from being questioned under oath in lawsuits by the Biden administration and civil rights groups that claim new voting maps in Texas are racially discriminatory.”… Continue reading

“A GOP power grab shatters 30 years of political progress for Black voters in Galveston County “

May 21, 2022, 7:14 pmredistricting, Voting Rights ActShelby County's impactTabatha Abu El-Haj

Texas Tribune reports that “Republicans dismantled the only Galveston County commissioners precinct in which voters of color held political clout.” “Carver Park in Texas City, created during segregation, is considered the first African American county park in the state. It… Continue reading

VRA’s Effectiveness & Impact of Judicial Nullification of Preclearance

May 18, 2022, 6:03 amVoting Rights ActNew ResearchTabatha Abu El-Haj

New research exploring impact of 1965 Voting Rights Act finds it reduced income inequality between Blacks and Whites. Since Shelby County v. Holder (2013), counties previously covered by Section 5 the VRA saw a decrease in public sector wages for… Continue reading

“Stealing the Crown Jewels: Justice Alito purports to place the future of abortion in the hands of women voters—despite abetting the disenfranchisement of Black and Latina women”

May 13, 2022, 7:01 amVoting Rights ActRick Hasen

Sherrilyn Ifill for the NYRB: Since then, Black women have had to overcome an accelerating and complex array of voter suppression schemes, which have proliferated with alarming speed. Even as the Dobbs draft circulates, the ability of Black and… Continue reading

Analysis: Eleventh Circuit Blocks Preliminary Relief in Florida Voting Case, Saying There Wasn’t Evidence Florida Enacted Its Law with Racially Discriminatory Intent and Blocking Preclearance for Florida’s Voting Laws

May 6, 2022, 7:53 amVoting Rights ActRick Hasen

Back in March, I wrote about a “blockbuster” ruling of a federal district court that not only found some of Florida’s restrictive voting laws illegal; it also found that Florida enacted them with racially discriminatory intent. That finding… Continue reading

The Conservative Case for Proportional Representation

April 29, 2022, 5:37 amalternative voting systems, redistricting, Supreme Court, Voting Rights ActNed Foley

In the wake of New York’s redistricting decision this week, Washington Post columnist Henry Olsen urges Congress to reach a bipartisan agreement to end gerrymandering and offers three ways to do that. All three deserve attention, and I suspect that… Continue reading

Travis Crum: Shaw and the City

April 26, 2022, 2:17 pmVoting Rights ActRick Hasen

The following is a guest post from Travis Crum: The 2020 redistricting cycle is well under way. As in past cycles, redistricting suits have targeted statewide maps. That makes sense, as the stakes are higher and voting rights… Continue reading