Law Commons^™

To Participate And Elect: Section 2 Of The Voting Rights Act At 40, Ellen D. Katz, Brian Remlinger, Andrew Dziedzic, Brooke Simone, Jordan Schuler

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This paper provides an overview of cases decided under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act between September 1, 1982 and December 31, 2021. It updates our 2006 study documenting Section 2 litigation through 2005. Of note is the substantial decline in the number of Section 2 cases decided and diminished success for the plaintiffs who bring them. While recent litigation (including Brnovich and Merrill v. Milligan) suggests that Section 2 is likely to occupy, at best, a diminished role in future electoral disputes, this paper shows that Section 2’s reach had already declined significantly prior to recent disputes. …

Protocol For Attorneys Representing Parents In Child Protective Proceedings, Frank E. Vandervort, Vivek S. Sankaran

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This protocol is intended to guide attorneys through the strategic decisions they will need to make while representing parents in child protective cases. The protocol does not provide a comprehensive action-step checklist. Parents’ attorneys can find that kind of guidance in other resources, including the “How-To-Kit: Representing Parents in Child Protective Proceedings” by the Institute of Continuing Legal Education; “Guidelines for Achieving Permanency in Child Protection Proceedings” by Children’s Charter of the Courts of Michigan; and the American Bar Association’s “Standards of Practice for Attorneys Representing Parents in Abuse and Neglect Cases.”1 For its part, this protocol delves more substantively …

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

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The Voting Rights Initiative ("VRI") at the University of Michigan Law School was created during the winter of 2005 to help inform [...] the debates that led to this latest congressional reauthorization and the legal challenge to it that is certain to follow. A cooperative research venture involving 100 students working under faculty direction set out to produce a detailed portrait of litigation brought since 1982 under Section 2. This Report evaluates the results of that survey. The comprehensive data set may be found in a searchable form at http://www.votingreport.org or http://www.sitemaker.umich.edu/votingrights. The aim of this report and the accompanying …

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

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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 …

Should Congress Repeal Securities Class Action Reform?, Adam C. Pritchard

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The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 was designed to curtail class action lawsuits by the plaintiffs’ bar. In particular, the high-technology industry, accountants, and investment bankers thought that they had been unjustly victimized by class action lawsuits based on little more than declines in a company’s stock price. Prior to 1995, the plaintiffs’ bar had free rein to use the discovery process to troll for evidence to support its claims. Moreover, the high costs of litigation were a powerful weapon with which to coerce companies to settle claims. The plaintiffs’ bar and its allies in Congress have called …

Section 1: Nuts And Bolts, David A. Santacroce

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Workers facing plant closing and permanent or long-term layoffs now have a little more legal protection to give them some time to plan for retraining and to look for new jobs.

The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act provides for 60 days advance notice to certain workers affected by a plant closing or mass layoff. This law was passed by the U.S. Congress in 1988 after having been sought for many years by unions and other workers' rights advocates.

Vigorous action by the labor movement and strong public support led to passage of the WARN Act in spite of …

A Rededication, John W. Reed

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The delivered keynote address during the April 18, 1988, dedication of the new Lansing courtroom of the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan.

Light-Hearted Thoughts About Discovery Reform, John W. Reed

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I am delighted to be here among friends from various settings and associations over the years. Having been unable to arrive until late last evening, I am in a poor position to offer useful commentary on what has been said here. But no matter-that is not my assignment. You have heard enough words of wisdom for one weekend. My pleasant assignment is to offer some "light-hearted" comments on discovery reform. I hope they do not prove to be "light-headed" as well.

The Future Of Evidence Law: Or, Some Prophecies About Proof, John W. Reed

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I am honored to participate in this seminar that is part of the celebration surrounding the dedication of Colorado's new State Judicial Building. But that feeling of honor is tempered by an awareness of the responsibility and perils of the role I have been asked to play. With the assignment, "The Future of Evidence Law," I have been asked to play the prophet, to be a seer of sorts, and to suggest what rules and principles will govern proof at trials at some date in the future. Exactly what date was not specified in the invitation-a decade, perhaps? A generation? …

Don't Speak Of Love, John W. Reed

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I was asked to speak to you this morning about communication in the courtroom. Specifically I was told that this group, keenly interested in the trial process, would like to hear any comments I might offer on problems of persuading judges and jurors. If your delegate who invited me misread your interest, you still have time to move to the Lewis and CLark Room, down the hall, where, indeed, some of the most able communicators in the trial business are demonstrating what I shall only describe.