Discussing Voting Rights and Why Your Vote Matters with Donita Judge, Associate Executive Director, Center for Constitutional Rights: On Record PR
In 2013, a divided Supreme Court held in Shelby County v. Holder that Section 4(b) of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was unconstitutional, ending its preclearance requirement in states with a history of discriminatory voting...more
Every ten years, states conduct a redistricting process to redraw state and congressional boundary lines for the selection of elected representatives. Due to its politically thorny nature, this process unsurprisingly results...more
On May 23, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Alexander v. South Carolina State Conference of the NAACP, No. 22-807. The Court held that the finding of a three-judge district court panel that race was predominant in the...more
In this special episode, Akin Supreme Court and appellate practice head Pratik Shah and partner Aileen McGrath look back at the tumultuous 2022 Supreme Court Term....more
On Monday, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit held that Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act lacks a private right of action. The court affirmed an Arkansas federal district court’s holding that only the...more
The Cozen Lens- What role the United States should play in today’s unstable world is a legitimate debate to have, but to be able to provide any form of leadership abroad, the US needs to be able to demonstrate a certain...more
The U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 term opened in October with another docket that is teeming with controversial issues, ranging from affirmative action in college admissions and third-party liability for social media posts to...more
The United States Supreme Court late last month vacated the stay of an injunction entered by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. In a brief, one-paragraph order with no dissents, the Supreme Court held that...more
For 57 years, the Voting Rights Act has served as a remarkably effective bulwark against state-level attempts to restrict voting rights, particularly for Black and minority voters. But voting rights are under attack in state...more
Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee, No. 19-1257: The Democratic National Committee and other affiliates brought a suit challenging two Arizona voting restrictions as violating §2 of the Voting Rights Act (“VRA”)....more
On March 7, 2021, President Biden signed an executive order aiming to increase voters’ access to elections. The executive order serves as an “initial step” in President Biden’s plan to work with Congress to attempt to...more
The Supreme Court closed out its current term this week, issuing decisions in two cases with important implications for public schools. In Kisor v. Wilkie, issued yesterday, a surprising majority of the Court (the liberal...more
The Supreme Court of the United States issued three decisions on June 27, 2019: Department of Commerce v. New York, No. 18-966: The Secretary of Commerce announced in a March 2018 memo that he was reinstating a question...more
The Commerce Department cannot include a citizenship question in the census – at least for now – according to the Supreme Court. In Department of Commerce et al. v. New York et al., the Court, in a 5-4 decision written by...more
Today, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in the following case: PDR Network, LLC v. Carlton & Harris Chiropractic Inc., No 17-1705: Whether the Hobbs Act required the district court in this case to accept the Federal...more
The Supreme Court of the United States issued two decisions today: Ohio v. American Express Co., No 16-1454: American Express (Amex), like all credit-card companies, operates a transaction network that serves two groups:...more
On June 25, 2018, the Supreme Court decided Abbott, et al. v. Perez, et al., Nos. 17-586 & 17-626. The Court held that the district court erred when it required the State to show that the 2013 Texas Legislature had "purged...more
On January 27, 1998, the Winston-Salem Journal featured an article discussing the lack of competitive Congressional races in North Carolina. John Hoeffel, Six Incumbents Are a Week Away From Easy Election, Winston-Salem...more
The U.S. Supreme Court has taken the extraordinary step of finding that two of North Carolina's congressional districts violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment because they impermissibly utilized race as the...more
The Supreme Court of the United States issued decisions in three cases today: TC Heartland LLC v. Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC, No. 16-341: Respondent Kraft Foods brought a patent infringement suit against petitioner TC...more
On May 22, 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Cooper v. Harris, No. 15-1262, holding that a three-judge district court panel did not err in concluding that race furnished the predominant rationale for North Carolina’s...more
The Supreme Court of the United States issued decisions in three cases today: McDonnell v. United States, No. 15-474: Former Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell and his wife, Maureen McDonnell, were federally indicted...more
The U.S. Supreme Court, in an opinion written by Justice Breyer, has unanimously upheld the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission's plan to redraw Arizona's legislative districts. Lawyers from Ballard Spahr's Political...more
On April 20, 2016, the Supreme Court decided Harris v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission, No. 14-232, holding that a redistricting plan is not unconstitutional where the maximum population deviation between the...more
Total population, however, may not be the only standard upon which voting areas can be based - This week, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an important decision in Evenwel v. Abbott clarifying that state and local...more