Electionlawblog news and commentary 7/11/06

Hasen: "Pass the VRA Bailout Amendment"

Roll Call has published my guest commentary (FREE access, reprinted with permission), which begins:

This week the House considers H.R. 9, a bill that renews expiring provisions of the Voting Rights Act. The Senate is expected to take up parallel legislation later this summer, after it emerges from the Senate Judiciary Committee. Members of the House should vote to renew the act, but they also should vote for an amendment to be offered by Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-Ga.) to create what I have termed "proactive bailout." The amendment strengthens the act by helping to insulate the renewed VRA against inevitable constitutional challenge.
It concludes:

I know some Members of Congress, particularly Democrats, might be suspicious of an amendment offered by a conservative Southern Republican such as Westmoreland. I understand the concern. But Members of Congress should look past this concern. Passing H.R. 9 as is, without any attempt by Congress to recognize that 2006 is not 1965, could doom the provisions before the Supreme Court. And if the court strikes down a renewed VRA, other important civil rights laws could follow as well.

Meanwhile, the newspaper reports (paid subscription required): "Leadership sources said they expect those two amendments [Norwood and Westmoreland] again will be made in order when the Rules Committee meets this week to reconsider the VRA. Those sources also predicted both amendments would fail -- a development that should ensure that the VRA retains the support of Democrats, including members of the Congressional Black Caucus."

"Mexico's Election Court Faces a Tough Test"

The Wall Street Journal offers this report (paid subscription required).

Change in Texas Law to Allow Republicans to Replace DeLay if He "Withdraws" Unlikely to Be Passed in Time to Help DeLay

So concludes Charles Kuffner of the Houston Chronicle, who notes: "According to the Texas Constitution, 'No law passed by the Legislature, except the general appropriation act, shall take effect or go into force until ninety days after the adjournment of the session at which it was enacted, unless the Legislature shall, by a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each House, otherwise direct'. To put it bluntly, ain't no way in hell there's 100 votes in the House for this. Given that 90 days from today is October 8, it's not clear that you could get this law enacted in time for Election Day even if Perry called a session to begin tomorrow. Nice try, but no dice." See also this report in The Hill.

"America still needs the Voting Rights Act"

The Roanoke Times offers this editorial.

"Voter registration issues cloud elections"

USA Today offers this report.

Posted by Rick Hasen at 07:02 AM

"Voter I.D. Rules Could Change Mid-Primary"

Law.com offers this report (paid subscription required) on the stay of Georgia's new voter identification laws.

"New election districts for lawmakers not likely"

See this news from Louisiana.

Jeffrey Rosen on Election Law

Chapter 4 of Jeffrey Rosen's new book, The Most Democratic Branch: How the Courts Serve America (Oxford University Press 2006) is devoted to election law issues. Rosen appears to agree with the position I've advanced in my book, The Supreme Court and Election Law: Judging Equality from Baker v. Carr to Bush v. Gore. Rosen writes (page149) at the end of his chapter: "And in the face of social dissensus, courts should resist the temptation to intervene in the political process, reserving their interventions for clearly defined rights of political equality that Congress has unquestionably endorsed, such as the right to speak, petition, organize, and the right not to be denied access to the ballot on the basis of race, gender and national origin." (See also p. 142 ["As long as there is no social consensus about how much competition is appropriate, the courts would be ill advised to unilaterally impose a contested vision of political fairness on an undecided nation."].)

Edelman on One Person, One Vote

Paul Edelman has published "Getting the Math Right: Why California Has Too Many Seats in the House of Representatives," 59 Vanderbilt Law Review 297 (2006).

State of Georgia's Request for Stay of Trial Court Order on Voter ID

You can find it here.

Watch the Oral Argument in Padilla v. Lever

Details here.

"Ga. Appeals Restraining Order on Voter IDs"

AP offers this report.

-- 
Rick Hasen
William H. Hannon Distinguished Professor of Law
Loyola Law School
919 Albany Street
Los Angeles, CA  90015-1211
(213)736-1466
(213)380-3769 - fax
rick.hasen@lls.edu
http://www.lls.edu/academics/faculty/hasen.html
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