Category Archives: Voting Rights Act

“Another ‘radical’ change to the Voting Rights Act could reach the Supreme Court”

January 11, 2023, 7:57 amVoting Rights ActRick Hasen

Tierney Sneed for CNN: A case that could further shrink the scope of the Voting Rights Act is before a federal appeals court Wednesday, with the appellate panel considering whether private entities – and not just the US Justice Department… Continue reading

“Civil Rights Advocates File Federal Lawsuit Over Mississippi’s Racially Gerrymandered Maps”

December 20, 2022, 3:36 pmredistricting, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

Release: Civil rights advocates today challenged Mississippi’s 2022 state legislative district maps for unlawfully diluting the voting strength of Black Mississippians. The American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Mississippi, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law; Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP,… Continue reading

“Georgia’s Racial Turnout Gap Grew in 2022”

December 16, 2022, 2:57 pmVoting Rights ActRick Hasen

Brennan Center: As state-by-state turnout data becomes available after the midterms, it’s clear that we remain in a period of high voter participation. Current estimates from the U.S. Elections Project suggest that turnout in the 2022 election was just a… Continue reading

Watch Video of ABA’s “Seventh Annual State of Voting Rights Event”

December 14, 2022, 6:53 amVoting Rights ActRick Hasen

You can watch archived video. Here’s information about the speakers.

“Minority districts drop after redistricting, despite population growth”

November 27, 2022, 1:58 pmVoting Rights ActRick Hasen

Reid Wilson for Plurbius News: The number of state legislative districts where racial or ethnic minorities make up a majority or a near majority of the population dropped substantially after the latest round of redistricting, even as those minority groups… Continue reading

“Making it easier for Black people to vote had unexpected consequences”

November 15, 2022, 6:48 pmVoting Rights ActNew ScholarshipTabatha Abu El-Haj

Nikita Lalwani at Monkey Cage has an interview with Nicholas Eubank and Adriane Fresh (Duke University), the authors of a provocative new study based on data showing that counties subject to Section 5 pre-clearance mandates under Voting Rights Act would… Continue reading

I Discussed the Supreme Court’s Alabama Redistricting Case (Milligan) on the We the People Podcast with Jeffrey Rosen and Jason Torchinsky

October 15, 2022, 11:03 amSupreme Court, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

You can listen to the podcast here. Description: Last week, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Merrill v. Milligan. The Court will determine whether Alabama’s 2021 redistricting plan for its seven seats in the U.S. House of Representatives… Continue reading

I Spoke to June Grasso of Bloomberg Law Radio About Oral Argument in the Milligan Voting Rights Case

October 10, 2022, 7:27 amSupreme Court, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

You can listen here.

Oral Argument Analysis of Merrill v. Milligan: Alabama Won’t Get All It Wants in Voting Rights Redistricting Case, But It May Well Get Enough

October 4, 2022, 9:12 amSupreme Court, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

I listened to this morning’s argument in Merrill v. Milligan, and live-tweeted it here. My sense is that Alabama is not likely to get the Court to adopt its radical approach to rewrite Section 2 of the Voting Rights… Continue reading

Previewing the democratic casualties sure to accompany SCOTUS OT 23

September 29, 2022, 11:21 ampolitical equality, Voting Rights Actfederalism, Independent State Legislature DoctrineTabatha Abu El-Haj

In advance of next week, Politico offers a thorough preview of the two election law cases on the Supreme Court’s docket this term. Both cases, it notes, are appeals from lower court decisions that threw out political maps drawn by… Continue reading

Insightful Preview of Upcoming VRA Case

September 26, 2022, 10:48 amredistricting, Voting Rights ActTabatha Abu El-Haj

Linda Greenhouse has written, John Roberts’s Long Game. Is this the End of the Voting Rights Act?–an insightful preview of Merrill v. Milligan, which will be argued on October 4. The lengthy Atlantic article cuts straight to the point:… Continue reading

“John Roberts’s Long Game; Is This the End of the Voting Rights Act?”

September 20, 2022, 1:51 pmSupreme Court, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

Linda Greenhouse in The Atlantic: Back in February, in a 5–4 vote, the Court’s conservative majority temporarily blocked the district court’s order; the majority didn’t even deign to issue an opinion explaining its reasoning. The justices’ audacious move freed Alabama… Continue reading

My New Article Posted on SSRN: “Election Reform: Past, Present, and Future”

September 13, 2022, 3:51 pmdirect democracy, legislation and legislatures, Supreme Court, theory, voting, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

I have posted on SSRN a draft of this encyclopedia article, forthcoming in the Oxford Handbook of American Election Law (Eugene Mazo, editor, forthcoming 2023). Here is the abstract: This Chapter considers what election “reform” is and why many Americans… Continue reading