Law Commons^™

Documenting Discrimination In Voting: Judicial Findings Under Section 2 Of The Voting Rights Act Since 1982, Ellen D. Katz, Margaret Aisenbrey, Anna Baldwin, Emma Cheuse, Anna Weisbrodt

Other Publications

This year marks the fortieth anniversary of one of the most remarkable and consequential pieces of congressional legislation ever enacted. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 ("the VRA") targeted massive disfranchisement of African-American citizens in numerous Southern states. It imposed measures drastic in scope and extraordinary in effect. The VRA eliminated the use of literacy tests and other "devices" that Southern jurisdictions had long employed to prevent black residents from registering and voting. The VRA imposed on these jurisdictions onerous obligations to prove to federal officials that proposed changes to their electoral system would not discriminate against minority voters. Resistance …

Regulating Section 527 Organizations, Gregg D. Polsky, Guy-Uriel E. Charles

Scholarly Works

In this Essay, we consider whether the Federal Election Commission (FEC) has the authority to regulate independent 527 organizations (e.g., Swiftboat Veterans for Truth, Moveon.org, etc.) as political committees under the Federal Election Campaign Act. This issue, which was hotly debated during the last election cycle when it was considered and ultimately tabled by the FEC, is an extremely complex one that requires a deep understanding of election, tax, administrative, and constitutional law. After considering how these areas of law intersect, we conclude that the FEC lacks the authority to regulate independent 527 organizations as political committees.

When Judges Carve Democracies: A Primer On Court-Drawn Redistricting Plans, Nathaniel Persily

All Faculty Scholarship

This essay presents guidelines for courts that undertake to draw their own redistricting plans. Although several dozen courts over the last four redistricting cycles have drawn their own plans, there is precious little in the case law or secondary sources to provide guidance. As a result, courts vary considerably in the procedures they follow and the substantive factors they take into account in their plans. This essay discusses the unique legal constraints on court-drawn plans and assesses the costs and benefits of following various procedures or substantive redistricting principles. The unique context of each case that spurs judicial involvement will …

What Do Exit Polls And Flu Vaccine Shortages Have In Common?, Albert A. Foer, Robert H. Lande, F.M. Scherer

All Faculty Scholarship

What do exit polls and flu vaccine shortages have in common? Both involve situations where society has come to rely excessively on too few entities. When even one company makes a mistake society can suffer significantly. This short piece advocates that we abandon our almost laissez faire tolerence towards high concentration, and rely upon competition, rather than on monopoly or a small number of producers.

Regulating Democracy Through Democracy: The Use Of Direct Legislation In Election Law Reform, Nathaniel Persily, Melissa Cully Anderson

All Faculty Scholarship

The study examines a wealth of election law reforms - term limits (for governor and state legislators), campaign finance reform (contribution limits and public funding), redistricting (pre-Baker v. Carr and creation of commissions), creation and regulation of primaries, and women's suffrage - to figure out whether differences exist between the election law regimes in initiative and non-initiative states and whether these differences (if any) might be attributed to the use of the initiative process. We find that in very few cases - legislative term limits and perhaps redistricting commissions - do initiative states differ noticeably from non-initiative states, and in …

Assembly Committee On Elections And Redistricting Summary Of Legislation 2005, Assembly Committee On Elections And Redistricting

California Assembly

No abstract provided.

Preparing For 2007: Legal And Legislative Issues Surrounding The Reauthorization Of Section 5 Of The Voting Rights Act, Jocelyn Benson

Law Faculty Research Publications

No abstract provided.

Johnson V. Degrandy, Henry L. Chambers, Jr.

Law Faculty Publications

512 U.S. 997 (1994), argued 4 OCT. 1993, decided 30 June 1994 by vote of 7 to 2 Souter for the Court, O'Connor concurring, Kennedy concurring in part and concurring in the judgment, Thomas and Scalia in dissent.

Natural Born In The U.S.A.: The Striking Unfairness And Dangerous Ambiguity Of The Constitution’S Presidential Qualifications Clause And Why We Need To Fix It, Sarah Helene Duggin, Mary Beth Collins

Scholarly Articles

This article explores the controversy surrounding the natural born citizenship proviso in order to demonstrate why a constitutional amendment is necessary to eliminate its inherent inequity and uncertain applicability, and to offer substantive recommendations for initiating such an amendment. Part I begins with a brief discussion of the historical and legal context of the natural born citizenship proviso. Part II explores the elusive nature of the term "natural bom Citizen," and Part III focuses on the perils of passively awaiting judicial resolution of its meaning. The structural and policy reasons why limiting the Presidency to natural born citizens is inconsistent …

The Supreme Court And Voting Rights: A More Complete Exit Strategy, Grant M. Hayden

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

To the great relief of many observers, the Supreme Court has recently become more deferential to state legislatures with respect to their political redistricting plans. The only problem is that the Court appears to be in no mood to revisit some of the cases that got it entangled in the political thicket to begin with - the ones rigorously applying the one person, one vote standard. Indeed, it recently issued a summary affirmance of a lower court decision that tightened up its already exacting standards regarding population equality. As a result, the Court's partial retreat from politics is doing more …

Refocusing On Race, Grant M. Hayden

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

This paper, prepared for a symposium on voting rights in the George Washington Law Review, is a call to refocus attention on the role of race in politics. In recent years, many voting rights scholars have shifted their attention away from the plight of minority voters. Indeed, the issue of race came up in this symposium only obliquely, if at all, as part of a discussion of other issues. And this is more than a bit unusual, for race has been a driving force in the development of much of the law of democracy over the last several decades.

Of …

What Is A Tragedy Of The Commons? Overfishing And The Campaign Spending Problem, Shi-Ling Hsu

Scholarly Publications

No abstract provided.

How Much Does Money Matter In A Direct Democracy?, John M. De Figueiredo

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

After Georgia V. Ashcroft: The Primacy Of Proportionality, Felix B. Chang

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

This Note argues that the majority in Ashcroft have left courts with an unadministerable standard-not so much for reasons that Justice Souter articulated in his dissent, but rather because the Court provided no guidance on navigating around the myriad of factors in the convoluted totality analyses. Part I examines two cases after Ashcroft which represent different degrees of racial vote dilution: Shirt v. Hazeltine and Session v. Perry. Through other post-Ashcroft cases, Part II teases out the differences (i) between influence districts as injury and remedy and (ii) between a jurisdiction's Section 5 and Section 2 obligations--details closely related …

Social Choice, Crypto-Initiaives, And Policymaking By Direct Democracy, Thad Kousser, Mathew D. Mccubbins

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Regulating Section 527 Organizations, Guy-Uriel Charles, Gregg D. Polsky

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Managing Gerrymandering, Mitchell N. Berman

All Faculty Scholarship

Last spring, in Vieth v. Jubelirer, the Supreme Court addressed a claim of unconstitutional partisan gerrymandering for the first time since having held such claims justiciable, 18 years earlier, in Davis v. Bandemer. Vieth was a fractured decision. All nine Justices agreed that partisan gerrymandering is of constitutional moment, a substantial majority declaring that excessive partisanship is unconstitutional. The Justices also united in rejecting the particular gerrymandering test advanced in Bandemer. There agreement ended. Four Justices proposed three tests to replace the unmeetable Bandemer standard. A four-member plurality would have overruled Bandemer more completely by holding that partisan gerrymandering claims …

Paying For Politics, John M. De Figueiredo, Elizabeth Garrett

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Electing Delegates To A State Constitutional Convention: Some Legal And Policy Issues, Richard Briffault

Faculty Scholarship

On July 6, 2004, then-Governor James E. McGreevey signed into law a measure intended to address one of New Jersey's most contentious and explosive issues, the property tax. The law called for the creation of the Property Tax Convention Task Force (the "Task Force") to develop recommendations concerning the design of a state constitutional convention for revamping the existing property tax system. In addition to analyzing the scope, operation, and timing of a property tax convention, one of the principal tasks of the Task Force was to determine the method for the election of delegates. The New Jersey Constitution is …

The Return Of Spending Limits: Campaign Finance After Landell V. Sorrell, Richard Briffault

Faculty Scholarship

On August 18, 2004, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held that the First Amendment, as interpreted by the Supreme Court in Buckley v. Valeo, does not preclude mandatory limitations on campaign expenditures.In Landell v. Sorrell, the court concluded that limitations imposed by the state of Vermont on candidate spending in state election campaigns are "supported by [the state's] compelling interests in safeguarding Vermont's democratic process from 1) the corruptive influence of excessive and unbridled fundraising and 2) the effect that perpetual fundraising has on the time of candidates and elected officials.^" To …