[EL] DOJ Preclearance Denials under the Reauthorized VRA

Justin Levitt levittj at lls.edu
Mon Jan 30 14:40:21 PST 2012


With apologies for the double-post ... in addition to my tracking of 
last year's redistricting preclearance activity, I should also have 
mentioned a great resource by the Lawyers' Committee here 
<http://www.lawyerscommittee.org/projects/section_5/>, compiling all of 
Justice's objections under section 5.  It's searchable by state, and by 
type of objection ... and also (quite helpfully) by date, which makes it 
a great research tool for questions like Nate's.

On 1/30/2012 2:28 PM, Justin Levitt wrote:
> Actually, though I plead neither a lot of time nor a lot of interns, 
> in conjunction with this U.S. Comm'n on Civil Rights hearing 
> <http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/us-commission-on-civil-rights-announces-briefing-on-redistricting-and-the-2010-census-enforcing-section-5-of-the-voting-rights-act-138312949.html> 
> coming up at the end of the week, I've pulled together a list of all 
> of the submissions, (formal) requests for more information, and 
> objections -- just for calendar year 2011, and just for redistricting 
> plans/procedures (or, more accurately, those coded with the word 
> "redistricting" on the Weekly Notice that John mentioned).   (So it 
> won't include the objections from 2006-2010.)
>
> I'm happy to make it available to those who are interested -- just 
> email me off-list.
>
> Justin
>
> On 1/30/2012 1:12 PM, John Tanner wrote:
>> Someone with a lot of time or interns can glean that information from 
>> the Voting Section's Weekly Notice of Section 5 Activity.  These are 
>> archived at 
>> http://www.justice.gov/crt/about/vot/notices/votarch.php.    Anyone 
>> interested can email section5.notice at usdoj.gov 
>> <mailto:section5.notice at usdoj.gov> and get on the list to receive a 
>> copy.  They come out more or less every week.
>> There also is a room where copies of outstanding requests for more 
>> information and requests for submission of unprecleared 
>> chanegs (those to which the jurisdiction has not replied) that many 
>> of you may have seen at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark
>>
>> On Mon, Jan 30, 2012 at 4:00 PM, Chandler Davidson <fcd at rice.edu 
>> <mailto:fcd at rice.edu>> wrote:
>>
>>     John,
>>
>>     Does DOJ have the data on more info requests?  As you know,
>>     these, in their own way, are important, too--especially those
>>     requests that are not responded to by the jurisdictions.
>>
>>     Chandler
>>
>>     On Jan 30, 2012, at 2:53 PM, John Tanner wrote:
>>
>>>     there are many others  see
>>>     http://www.justice.gov/crt/about/vot/sec_5/obj_activ..php
>>>     <http://www.justice.gov/crt/about/vot/sec_5/obj_activ.php>
>>>
>>>
>>>     On Mon, Jan 30, 2012 at 3:41 PM, nathaniel persily
>>>     <nate at persily.com <mailto:nate at persily.com>> wrote:
>>>
>>>         I have been trying to gather together the preclearance
>>>         denials issued from DOJ since the VRA has been reauthorized.
>>>          I have come up with the following:
>>>
>>>         1.      Kinston, North Carolina, Move to Nonpartisan
>>>         Elections (August 17, 2009)
>>>         2.      Lowndes, Georgia, Redistricting Plan (November 30, 2009)
>>>         3.      Fairfield County, South Carolina, Addition of
>>>         Appointed Positions to Elected School Board of Trustees
>>>         (August 16, 2010)
>>>         4.      Galveston, Texas, Switch to Combined Districted and
>>>         Partially At-Large Elections (October 3, 2011)
>>>         5.      East Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, Redistricting Plan
>>>         (October 3, 2011)
>>>         6.      Amite County, Mississippi, Redistricting Plan
>>>         (October 4, 2011)
>>>         7.      South Carolina Voter Identification Law (December
>>>         23, 2011)
>>>         [8.     Texas Redistricting Plans (Brief Filed in D.D.C. on
>>>         January 13, 2012) -- not really a preclearance denial, I know]
>>>
>>>         Of course, this does not include more information requests
>>>         and other actions the Department might be taking.  But am I
>>>         missing any denials of which listmembers are aware?  (I am
>>>         not trying to invite a discussion of the rightness or
>>>         wrongness of DOJ behavior; I'm just trying to make sure the
>>>         list is accurate.)
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>         Nathaniel Persily
>>>         Charles Keller Beekman Professor of Law and
>>>             Political Science
>>>         Columbia Law School
>>>         Jerome Greene Hall
>>>         435 West 116th Street
>>>         New York, NY 10027
>>>         (917) 570-3223 <tel:%28917%29%20570-3223>
>>>         nate at persily.com <mailto:nate at persily.com>
>>>
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>>>
>>>
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>>
>>
>>
>>
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>
> -- 
> Justin Levitt
> Associate Professor of Law
> Loyola Law School | Los Angeles
> 919 Albany St.
> Los Angeles, CA  90015
> 213-736-7417
> justin.levitt at lls.edu
> ssrn.com/author=698321

-- 
Justin Levitt
Associate Professor of Law
Loyola Law School | Los Angeles
919 Albany St.
Los Angeles, CA  90015
213-736-7417
justin.levitt at lls.edu
ssrn.com/author=698321

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