Law Commons^™

Advancing America’S Emblematic Right: Doctrinal Bases For The Fundamental Constitutional Right To Vote Per Se, Susan H. Bitensky

University of Miami Law Review

This Article identifies and examines the Supreme Court’s longstanding unintelligibility with respect to recognition of a fundamental right to vote per se under the Constitution. In a host of equal protection cases, the Court’s refusal to “say what the law is” in this regard has produced a chaotic jurisprudence on the status of the right. Because ours is a constitutional schema consisting of multiple types of rights to vote, the refusal manifests as judicial reliance on and acclamation of some unspecified right to vote. It is refusal by lack of clarity. The unsorted right has led some scholars to conclude …

You Can't Have Your Vote And Dilute It Too: Closing The Voting Rights Act Loophole In Gerrymandering Claims, Megan B. Kelly

William & Mary Law Review

The problem with creating and enforcing redistricting standards arises poignantly in racial gerrymandering cases that involve VRA section 2 compliance. In many ways, the rights that the Equal Protection Clause seeks to protect are at odds with the rights that section 2 seeks to protect. On the one hand, equal protection asserts a certain color-blindness, an interest in minimizing the focus on race and, in doing so, maximizing equality for all. On the other hand, the VRA suggests, and in fact requires, line-drawers keep at least one eye on race when drawing lines.

These opposing rights create a tension, which …

Unequal Protection: Rethinking The Standards And Safeguards For Absentee Ballot Schemes, Kira M. Simon

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Measuring Political Power: Suspect Class Determinations And The Poor, Bertrall L. Ross, Su Li

Bertrall L Ross

Which classes are considered suspect under equal protection doctrine? The answer determines whether courts will defer to legislatures and other government actors when they single out a group for special burdens, or intervene to protect that group from such treatment. Laws burdening suspect classes receive the strictest scrutiny possible—and under current doctrine, whether a class is suspect turns largely on whether the court views the group as possessing political power.

But how do courts know when a class lacks political power? A liberal plurality of the Supreme Court initially suggested that political power should be measured according to a group’s …

A Fugitive From The Camp Of The Conquerors: The Revival Of Equal Sovereignty Doctrine In Shelby County V. Holder, Vik Kanwar

Journal of Race, Gender, and Ethnicity

No abstract provided.

After Nfib V. Sebelius, When Does The Cost Of Voting Become An Illegal Poll Tax?, Andre L. Smith

Journal of Race, Gender, and Ethnicity

No abstract provided.

Bush V. Gore: What Happened, And What Does The Supreme Court's New Equal Protection Standard Mean For State Election Officials?, Michael Louis Newman

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

No abstract provided.

The Vote From Beyond The Grave, Krysta R. Edwards

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Crawford V. Marion County Election Board: A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words And Exactly One Vote, Brian C. Crook

University of Maryland Law Journal of Race, Religion, Gender and Class

No abstract provided.

The False Promise Of One Person, One Vote, Grant M. Hayden

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

This article challenges the theoretical foundations of the right to cast an equally weighted vote. That right, most elegantly captured in the phrase one person, one vote, was at the heart of the early reapportionment cases and has since become one of the hallmarks of democracy. One of the principal reasons for the success of the one person, one vote standard is that it appears to be a neutral or objective way of parsing out political power. Drawing on recent work in philosophy and economics on the nature of interpersonal utility comparisons, I demonstrate the normative character of the standard. …

State Campaign Finance Schemes And Equal Protection, John M. Hamilton

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Supreme Court And Local Reapportionment: Voter Inequality In Special-Purpose Units, Philip L. Martin

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Constitutional Analysis Of Student Residency Laws, Allen M. Silk

Villanova Law Review

No abstract provided.