Election Law Commons^™

Pick A Number, Any Number: State Representation In Congress After The 2000 Census, Paul H. Edelman, Suzanna Sherry

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

In this essay, Professors Edelman and Sherry explain the mathematics behind the allocation of congressional seats to each state, and survey the different methods of allocation that Congress has used over the years. Using 2000 census figures, they calculate each state's allocation under five different methods, and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the various methods.

The Origins And Constitutionality Of State Unit Voting In The Electoral College, Matthew J. Festa

Vanderbilt Law Review

On November 1, 2000, a Joint Resolution was introduced in Congress proposing a constitutional amendment to change the Article II system of electing the President and Vice President' by abolishing the Electoral College. Acknowledging the fact that "there have been more congressionally proposed constitutional amendments on this subject than any other," the sponsoring Senator noted that the issue "could become supremely important in a few days," because "we have the possibility that the winning candidate for President might not win the popular vote in our country.' One prominent legal scholar has described the mere possibility of such an event as …

Beyond Counting Votes: The Political Economy Of Bush V. Gore, Michael Abramowicz, Maxwell L. Stearns

Vanderbilt Law Review

Journalists covering the 2000 presidential election controversy have had little trouble reconstructing the events of virtually every stage of the post-election process, reporting even privileged conversations among the candidates' lawyers. Yet one critical stage of the process remains shrouded in mystery: the behind-the-scenes events at the Supreme Court, which led to its decision in Bush v. Gore. Investigative reporting has produced only a few suggestive details. The Court has long insisted that it speaks through its opinions, and indeed the Court has left the public with only the Justices' statements at oral argument, and the various opinions themselves, from which …

Threading The Needle: Resolving The Impasse Between Equal Protection And Section 5 Of The Voting Rights Act, Lindsay R. Errickson

Vanderbilt Law Review

When it comes to legislative reapportionment, the Peach State is in a pickle. Consider this: the results of the 1990 census entitled Georgia to an additional representative in the United States Congress, bringing the state's total number of seats to eleven.' In order to comply with the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (the "Voting Rights Act"), the state's legislative district map was re- drawn three times during the 1990s before the legal battle over redistricting finally ground to a halt in 1997. Barely giving the state's General Assembly and the federal courts a chance to catch their collective breath, the …

Neither Free Nor Fair: The 1996 Bosnian Elections And The Failure Of The U.N. Election-Monitoring Mission, Christopher A. Riley

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The international community faced a difficult challenge after the Dayton Peace Accords ended the civil war in Bosnia. Free and fair elections became an essential component to establishing a democratic government in the war-torn country. The United Nations and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe responded by carrying out Annex 3 of the Peace Accords, which called for such elections. The resultant election-monitoring mission in Bosnia, however, was unsuccessful The elections were held under improper conditions. Therefore, the Bosnian people lack confidence in the democratic process, which is necessary for long-term democracy.

Indirect Effects Of Direct Election: A Structural Examination Of The Seventh Amendment, Vikram D. Amar

Vanderbilt Law Review

Federalism is hot. Courts are trying to preserve it.' Politicians are trying to reinvent it. And academics are trying just to understand it. Inspired by this renewed interest in the relationship between federal and state governments, I decided to undertake a fresh examination of the Seventeenth Amendment which requires direct election-by the People of each State-of members of the United States Senate. After all, although direct election has not received extensive academic attention, the amendment's removal of state legislatures from the federal electoral process would seem to have significantly reworked the Constitution's federal framework; state legislative election of Senators was …

Appellate Court Voting Rules, Scott B. Smith

Vanderbilt Law Review

During the 1996 term, the United States Supreme Court made a candid confession about its voting practices. In Seminole Tribe of Florida v. Florida, the Court overruled Pennsylvania v. Union Gas Co. and recognized that when a justice defers to the majority against his or her own reasoning inconclusive precedent results. Union Gas was particularly unusual because Justice White switched his vote to assure a result in a three-remedy case where none of the three remedies had the support of a majority. In Seminole Tribe, the Court admitted Union Gas "has, since its issuance, been of questionable precedential value, largely …

Controlling Campaign Spending And The "New Corruption": Waiting For The Court, Gerald G. Ashdown

Vanderbilt Law Review

Preventing corruption or the appearance of corruption are the only legitimate and compelling government interests thus far identified for restricting campaign finances.'

This statement by the United States Supreme Court appears to present its position on campaign finance restrictions. It must be viewed, however, in juxtaposition to other often quoted language of the Court concluding that restricting the speech of one in an effort to enhance that of another is contrary to the first amendment. These conclusions led the Court to the dichotomous holding in Buckley v. Valeo that campaign contribution restrictions contained in the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) …

Book Review, George M. Armstrong, Jr.

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

"The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers." Shakespeare, King Henry VI Part II, act IV, sc. 2.

The thoroughness of any social revolution might be measured by the degree to which the revolutionaries follow Dick the butcher's advice. Lawyers are often considered one of the principal bulwarks of the established order, perhaps its best unarmed defenders. A revolution, the transfer of political power from one social class to another, usually involves the liquidation of the lawyers as Well as the criminal and civil codes which are their tools.

The anomalous survival of the Russian bar after the …

Section 2 Of The Voting Rights Act: An Approach To The Results Test, David L. Eades

Vanderbilt Law Review

The fifteenth amendment' guarantees that a citizen's right to vote shall not depend on his or her race. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 (the Act)2 ended nearly a century of congressional acquiescence to obstruction and subversion of that guarantee by certain state and local governments. The Act was remarkably successful in curbing many race-oriented abuses of the electoral process. Despite this success, however, Congress chose to bolster the 1965 Act with the Voting Rights Act Amendments of 1982., The new legislation's most significant feature was the revision of section 2, which contains the Act's blanket prohibition against "discriminatory"voting procedures.

Books Received, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Books Received

The Utilization of Nuclear Energy and International Law By Vanda Lamm Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey: Humanities Press International, Inc. 1984 Pp. 151. $29.95

War, Foreign Affairs, and Constitutional Power By Henry Bartholomew Cox Cambridge, Massachusetts: Ballinger,1984. Pp. xx, 331 $35.00

Guidelines For International Election Observing Prepared by Larry Garber Washington, D.C.: The International Human Rights Law Group, 1984. Pp. iii, 90. $7.95

International Codes and Multinational Business: Setting Guidelines for International Business Operations By John M. Kline Westport, Connecticut: Qurom Books, 1985Pp. vi, 184. $35.00

Public Enterprises in Mixed Economies: Some Macroeconomic Aspects By Robert H. Floyd, Clive …

From De Facto To Statutory Exemption: An Analysis Of The Evolution Of Legislative Policy Regarding The Federal Taxation Of Campaign Finance, Jeffrey Schoenblum

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

This article first explores the development of the de facto system of tax exemption and identifies the tensions that led to its demise. The analysis then details the substitution of a statutory structure in place of the traditional informal arrangement and examines the potential present in that structure for substantial IRS interference in the political process.

Racial Discrimination And The Right To Vote, Armand Derfner

Vanderbilt Law Review

Lawyers in voting discrimination cases are fond of quoting Justice Frankfurter's dictum that "the [Fifteenth] Amendment nullifies sophisticated as well as simple-minded modes of discrimination."' Unfortunately for historical accuracy and for the health of our society, this statement simply has been false for most of the century since the passage of that amendment. In the past fifteen years, however, a change has begun, and the right to vote without discrimination has gained substance. This Article is an effort to describe today's law of voting discrimination, and how that law developed. Because the present state of this area is so largely …

Party Reform, The Winner-Take-All Primary, And The California Delegate Challenge: The Gold Rush Revisited, James F. Blumstein

Vanderbilt Law Review

The legal issues underlying the California delegate challenge at the 1972 Democratic National Convention are the subject of this Article. The Article briefly will sketch some of the recent constitutional developments in party reform litigation. It will argue that winner-take-all primaries, especially in California because of its size, are violations of equal protection as interpreted by the voting rights cases decided during the past 40 years. Finally, it will take the superficially paradoxical position that despite its unconstitutionality, California's winner-take-all primary did not violate the rules governing delegate selection to the 1972 Democratic National Convention; therefore, unless declared unconstitutional by …

A Model Bill On The Reporting Of Campaign Contributions And Expenditures, William H. Rodgers, Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

Public demand for strict and effective accountability of public officials engaged in political election campaigns has increased dramatically in recent times. Development of concrete measures to implement the objective, however, has been less quick to materialize. In this article, Professor Rodgers proposes model state legislation to require reporting of campaign contributions and expenditures by most political candidates and committees. The controlling principle of the proposed legislation is total disclosure of all aspects of political campaign financing. The Model Bill contains an effective procedure for administration and enforcement of its pro visions.

Expression Of Democracy: Local Elections In Petorca, Chile, Peter S. Cleaves, Eugene V. Matta

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The municipal elections of Chile were held on April 2,1967. On April 3, in Santiago, spokesmen from the national committees of the five major parties --the Christian Democrats, the Radicals, the Communists, the Nationalists, and the Socialists--all proclaimed that the results showed that their political aggregation had been victorious on the previous day. The debate concerning who had won the election raged for several weeks in the press, in Congress and in spirited social conversation. The Christian Democrats argued that although their percentage of the national vote dropped from forty-two per cent to thirty-five per cent, they had increased their …

The Legislature's Power To Judge The Qualifications Of Its Members, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Because federal and state constitutions require members of the legislative branch of the government to meet certain qualifications, the legal existence of a legislative body is dependent upon compliance with those constitutional requirements.' However, by express constitutional provisions, and by traditional legislative practice and usage, the legislature itself is deemed to be the final judge of the election and qualifications of its members. Section 5 of article I of the United States Constitution provides: "Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members ...." The constitutions of all the states contain provisions to …

Theodore Roosevelt And The Appointment Of Mr. Justice Moody, Paul T. Heffron

Vanderbilt Law Review

The author here describes the events leading to the appointment of William Henry Moody to the United States Supreme Court. Here counts the pressures brought to bear on President Theodore Roosevelt and the considerations which led to the President's selection of Moody over Horace Harmon Lurton.

Legislation, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Estate Tax--Marital Deduction--Compliance With Revenue Procedure 64-19

In those cases where an executor or trustee is directed by the governing instrument to satisfy a pecuniary bequest or transfer in trust by a distribution of the property in kind,' with assets at values as finally determined for federal estate tax purposes, there is the possibility that the surviving spouse will receive property the fair market value of which at the time of distribution is less than the amount of the marital deduction.

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Voting Rights--Residence Requirements for Voting in Presidential Elections

It seems safe to conclude that the choosing of presidential …

Local Government Law -- 1960 Tennessee Survey, A. E. Ryman, Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

This survey is directed to the law peculiar to local government. Although nearly every case involves law applicable to parties other than governmental agencies, the focus of attention here is on the aspects peculiar to such agencies. Critique of the law of general application is not within the scope of this article. Although "Elections and Representation" could be treated (as it was last year) under the topic of "Relations of Local Government and Private Persons," it is separated here to emphasize the logical distinction between laws concerned with the creation of governmental agencies on the theory that power is derivative …

Local Government Law -- 1957 Tennessee Survey, Thomas G. Roady Jr., Robert L. White

Vanderbilt Law Review

The substantial amount of litigation involving local governmental units, their officers and agents, continued during the period covered by this survey and if volume alone were any indication of significant growth and development in a given area of law this survey article would be of considerable importance. But, in general, the cases decided in this period draw on fairly well established legal rules and principles or upon legislation which has been designed to clarify existing problems. In view of this fact it does not appear justifiable to do much more than to present a summary of these decisions with brief …

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

RECENT CASES

Criminal Law--Insanity--Test of Irresponsibility

Criminal Procedure--Continuances--Delay of Trial Because of Crowded Civil Docket

Elections--Underage Candidate--Power of Judiciary over Names Appearing on Ballot

Federal Rules of Civil Procedure--Impleader--UnderRule 14(a)--Effect of Judgment between Plaintiff and Third-Party Defendant

Husband and Wife--Expenses of Last Illness--Husband's Right to Reimbursement under Wife's Will

Joint Tort Feasors--Release of One as Release of All--Application of Rule when First Tort Feasor is not Legally Liable

Restraint of Trade--Employee's Covenant Not to Compete--State-Wide Restraint

Specific Performance--Conveyance of Leased Premises upon Lessee's Exercise of Option to Purchase--Defense of Hardship

Unemployment Compensation--"Suitable" Employment--Refusal of Sabbath on Religious Grounds

Wrongful Death--Unborn …

Proposed Changes In The Presidential Election System, Estes Kefauver

Vanderbilt Law Review

A strong and real two-party system is the most intelligent, responsive and lasting way to operate a democracy. The party in power formulates the policy and program of the Government. The minority party criticizes and tries to improve that program. The present system of electing a president prevents the candidates of the political parties from being truly expressive of the members of the parties. It also results in the, heads of the parties taking positions which are out of harmony with a large segment of the party.