RPV Near Me – Updated with Asian and American Indian/Alaska Native Estimates

December 12, 2023, 12:35 pmUncategorizedNicholas Stephanopoulos

This is a guest post by Ruth Greenwood, Director of the Election Law Clinic at Harvard Law School: With coalition claims in the election law news again, I wanted to flag an update to a resource that I shared… Continue reading

“Congress should preempt the Supreme Court on Section 2 of Voting Rights Act”

November 28, 2023, 9:19 amUncategorizedRichard Pildes

Maureen Edobor is a new election-law academic recently hired as an assistant professor at Washington and Lee. Here’s an excerpt from a piece she just published in The Hill, which criticizes the 8th Circuit’s holding that no private right of… Continue reading

Joan Biskupic: “Voting Rights Act ruling is latest attempt by Trump-nominated judges to overturn Supreme Court precedent”

November 21, 2023, 1:58 pmSupreme Court, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

Joan Biskupic for CNN: A US appellate court decision Monday undercutting the Voting Rights Act of 1965 rejects decades of precedent and appears likely to provoke a confrontation at the US Supreme Court, where the milestone law has been increasingly under… Continue reading

Travis Crum: “The Eighth Circuit’s Other Jurisdictional Problem”

November 21, 2023, 7:28 amVoting Rights ActRick Hasen

The following is a guest post from Travis Crum: In Arkansas State Conference of the NAACP v. Arkansas Board of Apportionment, a divided panel of the Eighth Circuit muddied the VRA’s jurisdictional waters. The Eighth Circuit, in an… Continue reading

Eighth Circuit’s Holding that Private Plaintiffs Do Not Have Right to Sue to Enforce Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act Would Decimate the Rights of Minority Voters; Supreme Court Review Almost Certain

November 20, 2023, 8:38 amSupreme Court, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

Derek just blogged about this divided decision of the Eighth Circuit. It’s hard to overstate how important and detrimental this decision would be if allowed to stand: the vast majority of claims to enforce section 2 of the Voting Rights… Continue reading

Divided 8th Circuit panel finds Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act does not allow private plaintiffs to sue

November 20, 2023, 8:20 amVoting Rights ActDerek Muller

Judge Stras, joined by Judge Gruender, affirming the district court. From the opening in Arkansas State Conference of the NAACP v. Arkansas Board of Apportionment: “Did Congress give private plaintiffs the ability to sue under § 2 of the… Continue reading

Breaking News: Supreme Court refuses to stay 5th Circuit in Louisiana VRA suit

October 19, 2023, 12:43 pmredistrictingshadow docketTabatha Abu El-Haj

Louisiana is given extended time to draw its own congressional map and to correct its discrimination. Supreme Court refused to stay order of the Fifth Circuit. Justice Jackson concurs.

Redistricting Battles

October 16, 2023, 5:19 amUncategorizedracial gerrymanders, redistricting, VRATabatha Abu El-Haj

The newest episode of Our Body Politic has an excellent segment on Alabama’s redistricting fights. It is clear and accessible, and ends with a stark bottom line: “The State of Alabama has never expanded the franchise to black voters on… Continue reading

Travis Crum: “Stopping Alabama’s Defiance of the Voting Rights Act”

October 10, 2023, 2:27 pmredistricting, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

The following is a guest post from Travis Crum: Alabama is once again the frontline of the fight for voting rights. After two years of litigation, Alabama now has two Black-opportunity congressional districts. But unfortunately, there are shockingly few… Continue reading

The laudable Pico decision

August 25, 2023, 7:24 amUncategorizedNicholas Stephanopoulos

Justin and Rick have already noted the California Supreme Court’s major decision yesterday about the CVRA. I wanted to flag a few reasons why the decision is commendable — a model for state voting rights acts (and courts construing state… Continue reading

Unanimous California Supreme Court in Santa Monica Case Adopts Compromise Reading of California Voting Rights Act, Remands Case to Appeals Court for Further Proceedings

August 24, 2023, 12:29 pmVoting Rights ActRick Hasen

You can find the opinion here. The court rejected the plaintiffs’ argument that proof of racially polarized voting in an at-large system was enough to show a violation of the CVRA. The court also rejected the City of Santa Monica’s… Continue reading

Cal. Supreme Court decides CVRA case

August 24, 2023, 12:19 pmalternative voting systems, redistrictingJustin Levitt

The California Supreme Court is out with an important opinion today in Pico Neighborhood Ass’n v. City of Santa Monica: a ruling on the California Voting Rights Act and some of the ways in which it’s distinct from (and… Continue reading

Brandon Johnson: “Election Aggrandizement”

August 2, 2023, 3:31 pmlegislation and legislatures, Supreme Court, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

The following is a guest post from Brandon Johnson, who begins as an Assistant Professor at the University of Nebraska on August 14: The Supreme Court received praise for two election law decisions issued in the waning weeks of its… Continue reading

Edsall on the New Vote Denial

July 13, 2023, 5:46 amThe Voting Wars, Voting Rights ActDan Tokaji

From the great Thomas Edsall in the NYT. His weekly columns are always worth reading, because he understands the grave challenges that American democracy faces and does a great job of explaining complex social science research to a lay audience.… Continue reading