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

The VRA and the Affirmative Action Cases

July 7, 2023, 12:35 pmUncategorizedRichard Pildes

I do not think the affirmative action cases, or Shelby County, directly cast doubt on the constitutionality of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Louisiana has now raised this question in its letter filing with the Fifth Circuit in… Continue reading

Louisiana Argues that the District Court Considering Voting Rights Challenge to Louisiana Congressional Redistricting Should Consider if Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act is No Longer Constitutional

July 7, 2023, 10:04 amVoting Rights ActRick Hasen

Yup, there it is (via Hansi Lo Wang): [The Supreme Court’s affirmative action decision in] SFFA has considerably altered the landscape of cases, such as this one, that involve state action requiring racial classifications. 2023 WL 4239254,… Continue reading

Separating Spin from Reality in the Supreme Court’s Moore v. Harper Case: What Does It Really Mean for American Democracy and What Does It Say About the Supreme Court?

June 27, 2023, 3:29 pmlegislation and legislatures, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

There’s a whole lot of spin out there about the Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision in Moore v. Harper concerning the scope of the “independent state legislature” theory. To hear some progressives tell it, the ISLT theory is dead and democracy … Continue reading

“Ten years of a crippled Voting Rights Act: how states make it harder to vote”

June 26, 2023, 7:34 amSupreme Court, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

Sam Levine and Kira Lerner for The Guardian: In 2013, the US supreme court gutted the pre-clearance requirement in a landmark case called Shelby county v Holder. In a 5-4 ruling, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that the Voting… Continue reading

National Constitution Center Podcast: “Recapping Allen v. Milligan: The Court Upholds Section 2 of the VRA”

June 22, 2023, 3:43 pmSupreme Court, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

Listen: Earlier this month, the Supreme Court handed down a major voting rights decision in the Allen v. Milligan case. In a 5-4 ruling, the Court upheld Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and found that Alabama’s … Continue reading

Common Cause Indiana v. City of Anderson

June 15, 2023, 10:29 amUncategorizedNed Foley

New federal court lawsuit arguing a violation of one-person-one-vote in the context of city council elections. Apart from the merits of this particular case, I’ve been wondering whether the current originalist-textualist U.S. Supreme Court would have any appetite to jettison,… Continue reading

“Self-Districting: The Ultimate Antidote to Gerrymandering”

June 12, 2023, 5:48 pmUncategorizedNed Foley

Page proofs are now available, and posted on SSRN, for my article proposing an alternative districting system in which voters choose the constituencies they wish to join for purposes of legislative representation, rather than having government officials draw the… Continue reading

My New One at Slate: “There Are Still Two Major Legal Threats to the Voting Rights Act”

June 12, 2023, 7:51 amSupreme Court, Voting Rights ActRick Hasen

I have written this piece for Slate. It begins: Last week’s voting rights decision in Allen v. Milligan was surprisingly good news: rather than hobble or destroy the existing protections for minority voters to elect their candidates of choice… Continue reading

The constitutional analysis in Allen v. Milligan

June 12, 2023, 7:06 amSupreme Court, Voting Rights ActDerek Muller

One argument raised by Alabama in its brief in Allen v. Milligan was that Section 2 is unconstitutional–at least, unconstitutional if Gingles were interpreted the way the trial court interpreted it. That prompted the bulk of concerned reaction in a… Continue reading

Justin Levitt remains “in the fetal position” after Allen v. Milligan

June 12, 2023, 6:48 amUncategorizedNed Foley

That’s a quote from his extensive interview with Bolts regarding the decision and its implications. Justin amplified the point behind his vivid metaphor: “There’s absolutely no question that the VRA remains one of the crown jewels of the civil rights… Continue reading

A Dissent From the View that the Court’s VRA Decision in the Alabama Case Was a Stunning Surprise

June 9, 2023, 7:30 amUncategorizedRichard Pildes

It’s understandable that much of the reaction to the Milligan decision on the VRA is to be stunned that the Roberts Court would endorse the VRA claim and require Alabama to create a second ability-to-elect congressional district for black voters… Continue reading