Subject: query re: preclearance after Ga. v. Ashcroft
From: Rick Hasen
Date: 6/7/2005, 4:34 PM
To: election-law

In looking at this page on the DOJ's website:
http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/voting/sec_5/al_obj2.htm
I could find no instances where the DOJ has objected to a request for preclearance since the Supreme Court decided Ga. v. Ashcroft.  Does anyone know whether this page is up to date?  In other words, is anyone aware of any denials of preclearance following the decision in that case? 

Michael Pitts, in his Pepperdine Law Review article on Ga. v. Ashcroft, notes the following interesting statistics (at 32 Pepp. L. Rev. 265 n.102) on objections following the Bossier decisions: "
Between January 24, 2000, (the day the second Bossier was decided) and January 24, 2004, the Attorney General denied preclearance on 34 occasions (not counting continued denials of preclearance). United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, Section 5 Objection Determinations (including text of objection letters), at http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/voting/sec_5/obj_ activ.htm. Eleven of those preclearance denials involved retrogressive purpose."
Rick

-- 
Rick Hasen
William H. Hannon Distinguished Professor of Law
Loyola Law School
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