[EL] AALS program on "voter suppression"

[Scarberry, Mark]

The Association of American Law Schools has invited faculty to propose "hot topic" programs for the upcoming January annual meeting in New Orleans. In connection with that invitation, the AALS provides the following information:

"We want to make you aware of two programs already scheduled for the Annual Meeting.
One is the AALS Committee on Professional Development Hot Topic Workshop on 'Voter Suppression and the 2012 Election' ...."

I'm sure this will be a good program; balance is another question. Perhaps Rick or someone else knows who the presenters will be. The voter suppression workshop does not seem to be listed in the detailed program booklet. See http://aals.org/am2013/AM2013%20Program.pdf.

I wonder whether it is appropriate for the AALS to use the phrase "Voter Suppression" in the description of the program. That seems to presuppose that proponents of voter id laws and perhaps other voting regulations (such as active review of voter rolls to eliminate dead or ineligible persons) are engaged in voter suppression. it also makes me wonder whether the program will be at all balanced. You would hardly want to balance a program by including people who want to engage in voter suppression, would you? I'd think inclusion of the phrase "voting integrity"  would have signaled a more balanced approach. I'm also not sure that this topic is ordinarily one that a "Professional Development" committee would deal with. Perhaps the scope of that committee's responsibilities is broader than the name suggests.

Mark

Mark S. Scarberry
Pepperdine Univ. School of Law
Malibu, CA 90263
(310)506-4667


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