With Callais not out yet & no opinion likely until late March at the earliest, it is becoming functionally too late for most southern states to redraw maps.
By the end of March, primaries will have happened in TX, NC, & MS & mail ballots will go out shortly after in AL, GA, and LA.
In a new Election Law Blog, I argue that, in prepping for a post-Trump world, we need to re-think preclearance. Using the mid-decade redistricting fights as an example, the post argues that DOJ should be sidelined and/or courts given power to review preclearance grants.
electionlawblog.org?p=154611
I'll be presenting this paper next week at the National Conference of Constitutional Law Scholars at the University of Arizona Law School. I'll post it on SSRN after incorporating comments from the conference. In the meantime, happy to share if folks are interested.
I've just submitted a new paper out this law review cycle. In Liquidating Reconstruction, I ask what the Reconstruction Amendments can teach us about liquidation and vice versa. This paper is especially timely given that 2027 is the 150th anniversary of the end of Reconstruction.
My book is available for pre-order! Get your copy here: www.cambridge.org/us/universit...
Remember how the first Trump administration tried to "enforce the VRA" by adding a citizenship question to the 2020 Census? Well it appears we're gonna have that fight again, and this time a recent lawsuit brought by Missouri is the opening volley.
electionlawblog.org?p=154179
Missouri has filed a lawsuit seeking to exclude undocumented immigrants from the 2030 Census and apportionment. Remarkably, Missouri is also seeking a "redo" of the 2020 enumeration "if necessary." No idea how that would even be possible at this stage.
electionlawblog.org?p=154059
I'd love to workshop chapters of this book in the coming years. And suggestions on title (and subtitle) are appreciated.
Thanks to all my mentors who pushed me to go into legal academia as a First Gen college student. This book would not be possible without your encouragement.
My book will also cover post-1950s doctrinal developments in areas such as Congress’s enforcement authority, redistricting, and Section 2’s discriminatory results standard. Some of this history has yet to be written as we await the Court's decision in Callais.
The last book on the Fifteenth Amendment’s drafting and ratification was published in 1965. My book covers that history from a legal perspective–as opposed to a historian’s. And my book will go beyond 1870, providing a brief history of Reconstruction’s demise and Jim Crow.
I'm thrilled to announce that I’ve signed a contract with Cambridge University Press to write a book on the Fifteenth Amendment. The target publication date is late 2028. The tentative title is "The Fifteenth Amendment: An Unabridged History of the Fight against Racial Discrimination in Voting."
SCOTUS is sitting on a cert petition in a major Section 2 case about implied causes of action. There's likely a dissent from denial of cert or its being held for Callais. This has very worrisome implications for the VRA's constitutionality.
electionlawblog.org?p=153412
“‘Constitutional hardball’: National gerrymander battle turns the heat up in Missouri” electionlawblog.org?p=153339
The first mid-decade redistricting case is headed to the Supreme Court's shadow docket. Here's why the so-called Purcell Principle--which counsels against enjoining redistricting maps close to an election--should not apply here:
electionlawblog.org?p=153101
Hot off the presses! I helped organize a symposium on the 150th anniversary of Minor v. Happersett, where the Supreme Court held that women were not enfranchised by the 14th Amendment. The case originated in St. Louis, so it was rewarding to shine a light on this overlooked piece of local history.
If Section 2 compliance isn't a compelling state interest, how would it survive Boerne? Alabama has a jurisdictional statement in Milligan, and they'd argue it isn't congruent/proportional. I don't see much daylight here.
That said, I could see an argument that it could still survive Katzenbach.
Missouri is seeking to revive the independent state legislature theory by insisting there's a clear statement rule. The rejected legal theory that plagued the 2020 election makes a return in the mid-decade redistricting wars.
electionlawblog.org?p=152593
Here's my take on today's big voting rights argument in Louisiana v. Callais. The Justices re-hashed arguments that had been considered three Terms ago in Milligan, and they appeared more interested in tweaking the VRA than in overturning it.
electionlawblog.org?p=152557
The second post argues that the Court's attempt to impose sunset dates on congressional statutes is deeply ahistorical and indefensible on originalist grounds:
electionlawblog.org?p=152514
The first post addresses the limits and importance of Section 2 of the VRA. Those who are not familiar with this area of law may find this real-world example particularly illuminating:
electionlawblog.org?p=152512
In advance of tomorrow's re-argument in the major voting rights case of Louisiana v. Callais, I've got two posts on the Election Law Blog. I'll be attending the argument and will provide an eyewitness account on ELB as well.
Can't wait to read this!
Really excited to be attending the 2025 Election Law Conference at Florida State University this weekend. We've got a great line-up of speakers!
electionlawblog.org?p=151984
Thanks to @epps.bsky.social and the folks at Wilkinson Stekloff LLP for their help on the brief.
You can find the amicus brief here:
www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/24...
I filed an amicus brief in Callais, this fall's blockbuster voting rights case. I make three arguments. First, the Fifteenth Amendment is the constitutional provision that bans racial discrimination in voting. Second, Shaw should be overturned. Finally, Section 2 of the VRA is constitutional.
To quote the Onion: History sighs, repeats itself.
