Subject: Justice Scalia and renewal of the Voting Rights Act
From: Rick Hasen
Date: 4/29/2003, 2:03 PM
To: "election-law@majordomo.lls.edu" <election-law@majordomo.lls.edu>
Reply-to:
rick.hasen@mail.lls.edu

This A.P. Report describes the oral argument today at the Supreme Court in Georgia v. Ashcroft. Certain provisions of the Voting Rights Act, including section 5 at issue in the case, are up for renewal before Congress in 2007. According to the A.P. Report, Justice Scalia made the following comment: "Maybe if we make it bad enough, they'll think about repealing it.'' It is not clear from the context of the article what the first "it" refers to, perhaps the complexity of the law of retrogression under section 5. Still it is somewhat surprising that a Justice would express such a view from the bench on the wisdom of Congress's choice.

-- 
Rick Hasen
Professor of Law and William M. Rains Fellow
Loyola Law School
919 South Albany Street
Los Angeles, CA  90015-1211
(213)736-1466 - voice
(213)380-3769 - fax
rick.hasen@lls.edu
http://www.lls.edu/academics/faculty/hasen.html
http://electionlaw.blogspot.com