Jesse Wegman for the NYT on the red state exodus from ERIC — a shift impossible to square with any supposed interest in maintaining voter rolls and preventing fraud.
Republican officials have for a long time rightly insisted on the… Continue reading
Brett Parker has posted this paper finding a moderate increase in ideological polarization on state supreme courts:
Research has documented elite polarization in a variety of areas, including Congress, the executive branch, and the federal judiciary. To my knowledge, however,… Continue reading
This joint report from Protect Democracy, States United Democracy Center, and Law Forward tracks bills across the country that increase the risk of election subversion:
As we demonstrate in this edition of the Report, the danger of a democracy crisis… Continue reading
This is a guest post from Ellen Katz:
Much of Allen’s significance may lie in the small section of the Chief Justice ’s opinion that Justice Kavanaugh refused to join, and the final point Justice Kavanaugh offered in his… Continue reading
Rick Pildes wrote this piece for Slate on how plaintiffs may harness new redistricting technology to bring more successful Section 2 claims after Milligan:
This new technology makes it possible to find VRA districts that might have been hard to… Continue reading
I have written this piece for the NY Times. It begins:
The Supreme Court’s voting rights ruling on Thursday in Allen v. Milligan is as shocking as it is welcome. The Voting Rights Act has lived to see another day,… Continue reading
Here are some early thoughts on today’s historic and unexpected decision in Milligan:
1. The Roberts Court Did This? Before today, the Roberts Court had only chipped away at racial vote dilution claims under Section 2. In LULAC, the Court… Continue reading
There is no doubt that the opinion and outcome in Milligan is both unexpected and quite remarkable. But what makes Milligan remarkable for me is its utter conventionality. By and large, Milligan is a fairly straightforward application of precedent, doctrine,… Continue reading
I agree that it is a big day for voting rights advocates. This language of Justice Kavanaugh, however, concerns me. . . “JUSTICE THOMAS notes, however, that even if Congress in 1982 could constitutionally authorize race-based redistricting under §2 for… Continue reading
I agree with Nick that today’s decision in Allen v. Milligan was stunning. I don’t want to give the Supreme Court too much credit, for reasons that Melissa Murray identify here, but I had prepared myself for the worst… Continue reading
There will be a temptation to see this decision as an affirmation of the status quo. But in a subtle way, I think the decision does more than that. New technology, as in this case, now enables plaintiffs to search… Continue reading
There will surely be more to discuss, but I wanted to flag these parallels in Chef Justice Roberts’ opinions.
First, from Shelby County v. Holder (2013):
Second, from Allen v. Milligan (2023):
Here’s the Court’s decision by Chief Justice Roberts. More analysis later, but this is an absolutely stunning development. I would never have expected this Court to rule fully in favor of the plaintiffs in a Section 2 racial vote dilution… Continue reading
Nick posted about a piece in the Election Law Journal on the topic of potential religious-based gerrymandering claims. I wanted to flag an essay a student of mine wrote on the same subject in the NYU Law Review. That piece… Continue reading