[EL] My Latest Opinion: A Bad Law is a Bad Law

[Elias, Marc (Perkins Coie)]

https://www.democracydocket.com/2020/03/a-bad-law-is-a-bad-law/

A Bad Law is a Bad Law
The American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote that “Our debt to tradition through reading and conversation is so massive, our protest so rare and insignificant…that in large sense, one would say there is no pure originality…Old and new make the warp and woof of every moment.”
This observation is as true in law as it is in literature or philosophy. In the area of voting rights, all too often public outrage and our collective resources focus on the latest law aimed at making voting harder while overlooking the similarly restrictive law that has been on the books, in plain view, for years or even decades. Not all bad voting laws are new. Sometimes a suppressive or unfair law remains in place because no one focused on its implication for the rights of voters. And, more often than not, a newly enacted suppressive law copies existing precedent in another state.
https://www.democracydocket.com/2020/03/a-bad-law-is-a-bad-law/



—
Marc Elias
Perkins Coie LLP
700 13th St, NW
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 434-1609

For scheduling, or if it is urgent, contact Allie Rothenberg: arothenberg at perkinscoie.com<mailto:arothenberg at perkinscoie.com> or (908) 377-7531.


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