[EL] section 5 in trouble

[Rick Hasen]

    Early Report from Oral Argument: Not Looking Good for Section 5
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47793>

Posted on February 27, 2013 7:58 am 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=47793> by Rick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

SCOTUSBLOG tweet: 
<https://twitter.com/SCOTUSblog/status/306794508094423040> "Update from 
argument: VRA Sec 5 almost sure to be invalidated 5-4. Congress will 
have to reconsider the preclearance formula."

As Adam Liptak reminded 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/27/us/politics/challenge-to-voting-rights-act-hinges-on-a-formula.html?ref=politics&_r=1&>us 
last night "Many predicted that the court would strike down Section 5 in 
2009, and they were wrong. Observers who make the same prediction today 
may suffer the same fate. But evidence suggests that the court's five 
more conservative members may be prepared to take on at least one aspect 
of the law.They could stop short of striking down Section 5 itself. But 
if they say only that the current coverage formula must end, sending the 
question back to Congress, that would almost certainly have the 
practical effect in the current climate of legislative gridlock of 
striking down the section altogether."

Yup. They can hide behind the fig leaf of just striking down the 
coverage formula, as I suggested they'd do 
<http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2013/01/30/if-the-court-strikes-section-5-of-voting-rights-act/> 
in this Reuters piece. But the practical effect is to end section 5.

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-- 
Rick Hasen
Chancellor's Professor of Law and Political Science
UC Irvine School of Law
401 E. Peltason Dr., Suite 1000
Irvine, CA 92697-8000
949.824.3072 - office
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http://electionlawblog.org

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