One Year After Shelby, Growing Focus Toward Local Elections

By EditorJul 30, 2014

Since the Supreme Court invalidated the Department of Justices’ authority to enforce the preclearance requirements of section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, voting rights organizations including the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF) insist a deluge of local election activity designed to disenfranchise African-American voters and political candidates will ensue. It has been just over one year since the Shelby decision, in which the court deemed the coverage formula for the act’s preclearance provision unconstitutionally outdated. In this election year, the question now becomes appropriate; Deluge or not? A quick check of the national headlines for the past year or…

Redistricting, Redistricting Litigation, Redistricting Race Rules

Video: Senate Committee Ponders Life After Shelby and the VRAA

By EditorJul 21, 2014

July 21, 2014 Lately, the voting rights world has made the sharp distinction between voting rights before the Supreme Court’s decision in Shelby v. Holder dismantling section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, and after. It’s a distinction second perhaps only to B.C. and A.D., and for good reason. Those who applaud the Supreme court’s decision are relieved that the Justice Dept’s overly racialized paranoia about the smallest election decisions of state and local jurisdictions will cease and the federal governments’ tight grip on state sovereignty loosened. On the other hand, opponents of the decision rile at the blank check…

Redistricting, Redistricting Litigationfeatured

2020 Vision : A Noteworthy Prediction for Redistricting in the Next Cycle

By EditorJan 31, 2014

We are just three years into the decade long redistricting cycle that began with the 2010 census. It is a cycle that begins with sorting through winners and losers of the apportionment lottery as some states gain seats while others lose. Next, politics reigns supreme as states redraw political boundaries and proceed with the delicate task of drawing a map that can pass muster both legally and politically. The third phase, which lasts most of the decade, consists of meticulous judicial examination of maps and perhaps usable precedent, just in time for the next round. RealClearPolitics’ Senior elections analyst Sean…

Redistricting, Redistricting Race Rules, Strategy and Politics2020, majority-minority districts

Is the Proposed Voting Rights Act Amendment Constitutionally Defective?

By EditorJan 28, 2014

The recently proposed Voting Rights Act Amendment (VRAA) embodies the ambitious purpose of not only reanimating federal preclearance provisions invalidated by the U.S. Supreme Court this past summer, but it also contemplates a more robust method of adding offending states and local jurisdictions to preclearance supervision beyond the coverage formula. While the main purpose of the VRAA is to update an outdated coverage formula for determining which jurisdictions are subject to preclearance pursuant to the Shelby County v. Holder decision, the proposed legislation does much more. In particular, it expands the statute’s bail-in provisions, which determine under what circumstances a…

Redistricting, Redistricting Litigation

Congress Makes First Attempt at Voting Rights Act Amendment

By EditorJan 23, 2014

Photo: David Sachs Last week U.S. Rep Jim Sensenbrenner introduced the Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2014 (VRAA); a bill to amend the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in an effort to revive the statutes’ powerful preclearance provisions that had allowed direct federal oversight of several states and local jurisdictions’ election-related activities. Last June, the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated the coverage formula in section 4 of the Act that had determined which jurisdictions would be obliged to seek preclearance or approval of all voting procedure changes. With the Supreme Court leaving the preclearance regime hobbled, thousands of election and voting…

Redistricting, Redistricting Litigation, Uncategorized

Voting Rights and Campaign Finance Intersect in NC Lawsuit

By EditorOct 16, 2013

Plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the NC Legislature's redistricting map have requested for a second time that one of three judges on the panel hearing the case recuse himself. That judge, Paul Newby, had benefited from over $1 million in independent expenditures funded by the Washington-based Republican State Leadership Committee. The same group retained the map-drawer for the North Carolina districts in question under the lawsuit. This is not the first time plaintiffs in the case have asked for judge Newby's removal, Last year, the state supreme court denied a similiar request. The stakes are high at this point in…

Redistricting, Redistricting LitigationNorth Carolina

Why A San Antonio Court Will Consider Preclearance for Texas

By EditorSep 25, 2013

The Texas legislature seemed to be moving on from the fight over its 2011 redistricting maps. The Supreme Court mooted the case against its maps in Shelby v. Holder by invalidating section 4 of the Voting Rights Act this past summer. The San Antonio court litigation considering additional claims against the maps from several plaintiffs, has stalled in the wake of the Shelby decision, but not before arranging the creation of new, temporary redistricting maps used for the 2012 election. The temporary maps became permanent after the Texas legislature and governor enacted the court-sanctioned maps. Texas officials would have liked…

Redistricting, Redistricting Litigation, Redistricting Race RulesTexas

California Plaintiffs find Easier Litigation Route with State Voting Rights Act

By EditorAug 27, 2013

Minority plaintiffs seeking redress in the courts to combat various forms of minority vote dilution generally had only sections 2 and 5 of the federal Voting Rights Act to make their case. Section 5 only applies to election law changes and was recently nullified by the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 2013 decision to invalidate its coverage formula, - leaving section 2 as the only feasible option for parties with vote dilution claims; Unless you happen to live in California. The California Voting Rights Act (VRA) passed in 2001, makes it easier on plaintiffs to make the case that a particular…

Redistricting, Redistricting Litigation, Redistricting Race Rulesat-large voting, California, CVRA

Persily and Mann Review First Post Shelby Dialogue Among Voting Rights Scholars

By EditorAug 10, 2013

On July 1st, thought leaders in the world of voting rights gathered together at a symposium titled “Voting Rights after Shelby County v. Holder.” Participants included both scholars and practitioners of voting rights law and a thought-provoking discussion ensued exploring the limits of the Shelby decision, the future of the Voting Rights Act and the immediate effects of the decision on voting rights doctrine and practice. The question of the continuing vitality of section 5 of the Voting Rights Act has more than two sides; there are opinions at many different angles, thus the debate is especially nuanced and complex.…

Redistricting, Redistricting Litigation, Redistricting Race Rulessymposium

Justice Dept. Forced to “Drop the Ball” in Some Local Election Controversies

By EditorAug 06, 2013

Before June 25, the Justice Dept. had many balls in the air as it negotiated hundreds of preclearance submissions from local jurisdictions covered under section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. These entities seek approval for any and all election changes; from redistricting maps of council districts to polling place changes. The Supreme Court changed all of that when it invalidated the coverage formula for section 5, effectively dropping all of those balls the Justice Dept. had in the air. The resulting mess from the sudden halt of an extensive administrative reporting system is bound to have some unforeseen outcomes.…

Redistricting, Redistricting Litigation, Redistricting Race Rules, UncategorizedDOJ, local