[EL] ELB News and Commentary 3/9/15

Rick Hasen rhasen at law.uci.edu
Sun Mar 8 21:28:16 PDT 2015 

    “Martin Luther King’s Call for Voting Rights Inspired Isolated
    Hamlet” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=70850>

Posted onMarch 8, 2015 9:22 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=70850>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Retro Report 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/09/us/gees-bend-alabama-martin-luther-king-voting-rights-1965.html?partner=rss&emc=rss>:

    To find Gee’s Bend on a map of Alabama, you would do well to put
    your finger on Selma and trace an imaginary line roughly 35 miles to
    the southwest. Selma is famous, of course, especially on this 50th
    anniversary of events that earned itan indelible place in civil
    rights history
    <http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/07/us/selma-gay-talese.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news>.

    Half a century ago, peaceful protesters seeking voting rights for
    disenfranchised blacks tried to march from Selma to Montgomery, the
    Alabama capital, but were mercilessly clubbed and tear-gassed by
    white men with badges. That state-sanctioned violence on March 7,
    1965 — Bloody Sunday — sickened the nation. More marches followed,
    ultimately under the protection of federal troops, and that summer,
    Congress passed aVoting Rights Act
    <http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/subjects/v/voting_rights_act_1965/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier>to
    sweep away practices that had long deprived blacks of equal
    partnership in the American democracy.

    River. Even calling it a ferry lent it a grandiose air. It was more
    like a wooden raft. But for “Benders,” nearly all of them
    African-Americans, it was their main connection to the larger world.

    Suddenly, during the protest era of the 1960s, it was taken out of
    service, deepening their isolation. What happened to them afterward
    shapes this first installment in a new regular season ofRetro Report
    <http://www.nytimes.com/video/retro-report/>, a series of video
    documentaries that examine major news stories of the past and their
    consequences.

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Posted inVoting Rights Act <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>


    “Selma Throng Is Told That Voting Rights Remain Under Threat”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=70848>

Posted onMarch 8, 2015 5:58 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=70848>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

NYT: 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/09/us/selma-commemoration-edmund-pettus-bridge-crossing.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=photo-spot-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0>

    Echoing a speech given byPresident Obama
    <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/o/barack_obama/index.html?inline=nyt-per>a
    day earlier, Attorney GeneralEric H. Holder Jr.
    <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/h/eric_h_holder_jr/index.html?inline=nyt-per>said
    Sunday that access to the polls was “under siege” by a flurry of
    recent state laws, and by a 2013 United States Supreme Court
    decision that weakened theVoting Rights Act
    <http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/subjects/v/voting_rights_act_1965/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier>,
    the landmark legislation that was the great prize for the civil
    rights activists who marched here a half-century ago.

    Mr. Holder spoke at ceremonies before veterans of the civil rights
    era and ordinary citizens who gathered here for acommemorative
    march<http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/08/us/obama-in-selma-for-edmund-pettus-bridge-attack-anniversary.html>across
    the Edmund Pettus Bridge to mark the 50th anniversary of a violent
    confrontation between the police and protesters that led to the
    passage of theVoting Rights Act
    <http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/subjects/v/voting_rights_act_1965/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier>.

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Posted inVoting Rights Act <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>


    “Iowa caucuses are a poor proxy for America”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=70846>

Posted onMarch 8, 2015 4:18 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=70846>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Rick Ridder oped. 
<http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_27660102/poor-proxy-america>

See also my 2012 /Slate piece/,Kill the Caucuses! 
<http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2012/02/congress_should_kill_the_republican_and_democratic_state_caucuses_and_mandate_primaries_instead_.html>

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Posted inpolitical parties 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=25>,primaries 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=32>


    “Potential redistricting reset could tighten California Democrats’
    grip” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=70844>

Posted onMarch 8, 2015 4:15 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=70844>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

LA Times 
<http://www.latimes.com/local/politics/la-me-pol-california-redistricting-20150308-story.html>:

    A U..S. Supreme Court case that could force California to redraw its
    congressional districts has stirred up fears of a return to partisan
    gerrymandering, a divisive process that has been criticized for both
    cementing and crushing political careers.

    While the potential impact remains uncertain, both Democratic and
    Republican leaders agree that the ruling could solidify the
    Democrats’ tight grip on California’s 53-member House delegation,
    the largest of any state.

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Posted incitizen commissions 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=7>,Elections Clause 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=70>,redistricting 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6>,Supreme Court 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=29>


    “At Rand Paul’s request, Republican committee gives green light to
    caucus” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=70842>

Posted onMarch 8, 2015 4:11 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=70842>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Sam Youngman 
<http://www.kentucky.com/2015/03/07/3733028_at-rand-pauls-request-republican.html?rh=1>:

    It looks increasingly like Kentucky Republicans will have a
    presidential caucus next year, when it seems just as likely that a
    Kentucky Republican will berunning for president.
    <http://www.kentucky.com/2015/03/07/3732612/they-all-love-iowa-but-gop-field.html>

    While most of the state was focused on the Kentucky Wildcats’ quest
    for a perfect season Saturday, about 50 members of the Republican
    Party of Kentucky’s executive committee met behind closed doors for
    about two hours, listening to Paul and his staff make their case for
    a presidential caucus.

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Posted incampaigns <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=59>,primaries 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=32>


    “Colin Powell Has A Pretty Good Suggestion For Fixing Voter ID Laws”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=70840>

Posted onMarch 8, 2015 4:08 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=70840>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

HuffPo. 
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/08/colin-powell-voter-id_n_6826518.html>

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Posted inUncategorized <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


    Quote of the Day <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=70838>

Posted onMarch 8, 2015 4:06 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=70838>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

    And with effort, we can protect the foundation stone of our
    democracy for which so many marched across this bridge – and that is
    the right to vote.  Right now, in 2015, fifty years after Selma,
    there are laws across this country designed to make it harder for
    people to vote.  As we speak, more of such laws are being proposed. 
    Meanwhile, the Voting Rights Act, the culmination of so much blood
    and sweat and tears, the product of so much sacrifice in the face of
    wanton violence, stands weakened, its future subject to partisan rancor.

    How can that be? The Voting Rights Act was one of the crowning
    achievements of our democracy, the result of Republican and
    Democratic effort.  President Reagan signed its renewal when he was
    in office.  President Bush signed its renewal when he was in
    office.  One hundred Members of Congress have come here today to
    honor people who were willing to die for the right it protects.  If
    we want to honor this day, let these hundred go back to Washington,
    and gather four hundred more, and together, pledge to make it their
    mission to restore the law this year.

    Of course, our democracy is not the task of Congress alone, or the
    courts alone, or the President alone.  If every new voter
    suppression law was struck down today, we’d still have one of the
    lowest voting rates among free peoples.  Fifty years ago,
    registering to vote here in Selma and much of the South meant
    guessing the number of jellybeans in a jar or bubbles on a bar of
    soap.  It meant risking your dignity, and sometimes, your life. 
    What is our excuse today for not voting?  How do we so casually
    discard the right for which so many fought?  How do we so fully give
    away our power, our voice, in shaping America’s future?

—President Barack Obama,in his speech 
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2015/03/07/a-single-photo-that-tells-the-powerful-story-of-the-50th-anniversary-of-selma/>commemorating 
the 50th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday” in Selma.  This was one of 
Obama’s strongest speeches and worth reading or hearing in its entirety.

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Posted inUncategorized <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


    “Corruption case against Sen. Robert Menendez could be tough to
    make” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=70836>

Posted onMarch 8, 2015 4:03 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=70836>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

WaPo reports. 
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/corruption-case-against-sen-robert-menendez-could-be-tough-to-make/2015/03/07/7af48e7c-c507-11e4-9271-610273846239_story.html>

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Posted inUncategorized <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=1>


    “President Barack Obama tells Selma crowd that Voting Rights Act
    ‘stands weakened'” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=70834>

Posted onMarch 8, 2015 3:59 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=70834>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Al.com reports. 
<http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2015/03/president_barack_obama_selma.html>

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Posted inVoting Rights Act <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>


    “Selma highlights hypocrisy on voting rights, Democrats say; Fifty
    years after the march, voting rights legislation is languishing.’
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=70832>

Posted onMarch 8, 2015 3:58 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=70832>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Politico reports. 
<http://www.politico.com/story/2015/03/selma-highlights-hypocrisy-on-voting-rights-democrats-say-115867.html?hp=r1_3>

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Posted inVoting Rights Act <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>


    “From Selma to Texas: Why the Voting Rights Act is Still Vital”
    <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=70830>

Posted onMarch 8, 2015 3:57 pm 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=70830>byRick Hasen 
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

Vishal Agraharker writes 
<https://www.brennancenter.org/blog/selma-texas-why-voting-rights-act-still-vital>for 
the Brennan Center.

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Posted inVoting Rights Act <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>

-- 
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
949.824.0495 - fax
rhasen at law.uci.edu
http://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/hasen/
http://electionlawblog.org

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