[Note: The footnotes to this article appear below: in the extended entry portion of the post] The bailout element of section 5 was originally designed in the 1965 Act to be integral to the overall structure, policy, and perhaps even… Continue reading

I have been advocating a proactive bailout amendment for VRA renewal that I think can increase the chances that a renewed VRA passes constitutional muster without weakening the important protections of section 5. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland will be offering this … Continue reading

The Salt Lake Tribune offers this report. Some who favor reauthorization of VRA section 203 (the foreign language provisions) might be upset that the question of ballot translation is becoming emboiled in the immigration/English only debate. (Note the ignorance… Continue reading

Ellen Katz has posted a new draft paper, Not Like the South? Regional Variation and Political Participation Through the Lens of Section 2. I quickly read this draft and think it will be important in the legal debate over… Continue reading

Bob Bauer will be presenting these remarks at the ACS Convention. It begins: On the right today, there is some distress over components of the negotiated renewal of the Voting Rights Act, the claim being that the preservation of the… Continue reading

I am pleased to add two important voices to the law professor forum on VRA renewal. Ellen Katz, a law professor at Michigan, was the primary researcher and writer of this important report on the history of section… Continue reading

Pam Karlan has posted this paper on the ACSBlog (link via Ed Still). This is a very important paper, the first one I think to seriously respond to the questions I have raised on the topic. (Others have responded… Continue reading

Rep. Lynn Westmoreland has written this oped for The Hill, “Georgia has changed for the better, and the Voting Rights Act should too,” which appears to be the same as this one that appeared May 29 in the Atlanta Journal… Continue reading

After my appearance at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Voting Rights Act renewal earlier this month (testimony here), I received follow-up questions from Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter, and from Senators Cornyn and Sessions. I have posted my… Continue reading

I have written this Findlaw column. It begins: “Important provisions of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) expire next year, unless renewed by Congress. The good news is that a vigorous debate is taking place over whether, and how, the… Continue reading

It is the City of Salem, Virginia. You can find the request before the three-judge court here. Gerry Hebert tells me that, if successful, this would mark the 11th jurisdiction to bail out from coverage of the VRA since… Continue reading

One issue that I think may not have been covered in this blog is the relationship between the reauthorization of section 5 and the voting rights issues involved in the Texas gerrymandering case (Sessions et al. v. Perry). In particular,… Continue reading

Rick Hasen’s post on the VRA quotes Senator Cornyn as follows: He said he also shares concerns about another element of the law regarding language assistance. Jurisdictions with high numbers of people whose native language isn’t English must print bilingual… Continue reading

Most of the scholarly debate over the expiring provisions of the Voting Rights Act has focused on Section 5’s preclearance requirement. But in terms of promoting equality of participation, the language assistance provisions of the VRA are at least as… Continue reading