| Subject: Sen. Kennedy Pushes Judge Roberts More on Voting Rights |
| From: Rick Hasen |
| Date: 9/14/2005, 12:42 PM |
| To: election-law |
You can find the transcript of the exchange here. Judge Roberts apparently was not aware of cases upholding the constitutionality of section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, and I don't read his comments as precluding a holding of unconstitutionality as applied to particular instances of application of section 2, such as in the case of felon disenfranchisment.
Judge Roberts also discussed the Voting Rights Act with Senator Hatch here.
Tom Goldstein also report that Judge Roberts would not comment on whether or not he agrees with Bush v. Gore. Tom writes: "Here's the first time I think that Roberts is just avoiding the issue, given that the Court's opinion essentially says that it isn't setting a precedent applicable beyond those facts." But I think it is actually quite likely that in the next few years the Supreme Court will need to resolve the question whether in fact the case has any precedential value, and, if it does, what its equal protection holding actually means.
-- Rick Hasen William H. Hannon Distinguished Professor of Law Loyola Law School 919 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://electionlawblog.org