[EL] VA legislative plans precleared

[Abigail Thernstrom]

	Okay, not quite a dark black line, but the main story is the VRARA's  
rejection of Ashcroft, which had sanctioned coalition districts in  
which the percentage of black voters had been reduced, although not  
below 50 percent.. As you will remember, ten out of eleven black state  
senators had supported the map submitted to the DC dist ct, along with  
thirty-three out of thirty-four black representatives in the Georgia  
House. John Lewis, in testimony, also defended the state's decision.  
But while Justice O'Connor argued that states should have the  
flexibility to choose substantive over descriptive representation, the  
decision was deeply opposed by the civil rights community, and its  
opposition was apparent in the congressional hearings leading up to  
the 2006 statute.
	
	Dealing with the Ashcroft problem was the whole point of the language  
I quoted from the '06 statute and the recently issued guidelines.  And  
my only objection to Mike's comment was the suggestion that it was  
noteworthy that DOJ had precleared the VA plan even though the black  
percentage had been lowered in some majority black districts --  
although not to the point of making them minority-black. Had VA drawn  
a map in which majority-black constituencies had become coalition  
districts, less than 50 percent minority --  that would have been  
worth a heads-up.

	Abby

Abigail Thernstrom
Vice-chair, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights
Adjunct Scholar, American Enterprise Institute
www.thernstrom.com

On Jun 20, 2011, at 2:49 PM, David Becker wrote:

> For the record, it's not accurate to state that "the VRARA ...  
> [blocked the] possibility [of reducing black vote to under 50  
> percent].  Since at least the 90s, 50 percent has not been a black  
> line rule in assessing ability to elect under Section 5.  While it's  
> relevant to the analysis, and it may be more difficult to  
> demonstrate ability to elect if percentages fall below 50, there are  
> districts where the DOJ has not objected where the minority  
> percentage in one or more of the significant measurements (VAP,  
> CVAP, REG) has dipped below 50, so long as ability to elect has been  
> maintained (usually through reliable and consistent crossover  
> voting).  There were such districts in the 2001 Georgia statewide  
> legislative plans, for instance.
>
>
> David J. Becker
> Project Director, Election Initiatives
> The Pew Center on the States
> 901 E Street NW | 10th Floor
> Washington, DC  20004
> p: 202.552.2136 | f: 202.552.2299
> e: dbecker at pewtrusts.org | www.pewtrusts.org
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu [mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu 
> ] On Behalf Of Abigail Thernstrom
> Sent: Monday, June 20, 2011 1:46 PM
> To: Michael McDonald
> Cc: 'Election Law'
> Subject: Re: [EL] VA legislative plans precleared
>
>
> 	Gee, Michael, I don't see the significance here.  Would be noteworthy
> if DOJ had precleared districts in which the black vote had been
> reduced to under 50 percent.  But of course the VRARA superceded
> Ashcroft, blocking that possibility.  And the new guidelines, tracking
> the 2006 statutory language, explicitly state: "Any change affecting
> voting that has the purpose of or will have the effect of diminishing
> the ability of any citizens of the United States on account of race,
> color, or membership in a language minority group to elect their
> preferred candidates of choice denies or abridges the right to vote
> within the meaning of section 5."
>
> 	DOJ stuck to the letter of the revised statute and new regs.
>
> 	Sorry for the delay in answer; Just catching up on my email.
>
> 	Abby
>
> Abigail Thernstrom
> Vice-chair, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights
> Adjunct Scholar, American Enterprise Institute
> www.thernstrom.com
>
>
> On Jun 17, 2011, at 6:31 PM, Michael McDonald wrote:
>
>> Both Virginia legislative plans were pre-cleared this afternoon by
>> DOJ. This
>> is significant because the Democratic state Senate plan reduced the
>> African-American voting-age population of 3 voting rights districts
>> (but
>> kept them above 50%).
>>
>> ============
>> Dr. Michael P. McDonald
>> Associate Professor, George Mason University
>> Non-Resident Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution
>>
>>                             Mailing address:
>> (o) 703-993-4191             George Mason University
>> (f) 703-993-1399             Dept. of Public and International  
>> Affairs
>> mmcdon at gmu.edu               4400 University Drive - 3F4
>> http://elections.gmu.edu     Fairfax, VA 22030-4444
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Law-election mailing list
>> Law-election at department-lists.uci.edu
>> http://department-lists.uci.edu/mailman/listinfo/law-election
>
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Law-election mailing list
> Law-election at department-lists.uci.edu
> http://department-lists.uci.edu/mailman/listinfo/law-election







-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20110620/1ab45736/attachment.html>