Some Insight Into the Drafting of the Senate VRA
Committee Report
Check out this
letter sent by Senator Leahy to Senator Specter on July 25, and this
response
sent by Specter on July 26. Among other things, the Specter letter
states that on July 20 Leahy's staff submitted a proposed 145-page
draft report that Specter concluded he "could not join." Eventually, as
this post
explains, the Senate Report that was filed was primarily factual, with
a separate statement by Senators Coburn and Cornyn complaining about
the process and about the VRA, and a short dissent from Democrats
disavowing the report that was filed.
One piece of evidence that the report was a moving target throughout
the process is that the Democratic dissent refers to "Additional Views"
signed by Chairman Specter. In the final document, he did not sign any
additional views.
--
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
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