Articles

Author: Joshua Thompson PLF Principal Attorney Sharon Browne is currently being featured on the Federalist Society's website dicussing the Supreme Court's recent decision in Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District No. 1 v. Holder.  Northwest Austin was expected to be a landmark decision regarding the constitutionality of the Votin ...

Author: Ralph W. Kasarda On January 5, 2010, the Ninth Circuit reversed a district court decision and held, in Farrakhan v. Gregoire, that the State of Washington's felon disenfranchisement law violates the federal Voting Rights Act.  In a 2-1 decision, the court concluded that the felons' showing of statistical disparities among race ...

Author: Ralph W. Kasarda In an earlier post on the Liberty Blog, I described how the Ninth Circuit had ordered the parties in Farrakhan v. Gregoire to submit briefs setting forth their respective positions on whether the case should be reheard.  After considering those briefs, the Ninth Circuit has in fact ordere ...

Author: Ralph W. Kasarda Last week the Pacific Legal Foundation and Center for Equal Opportunity filed an amicus brief in support of the State of Washington in Farrakhan v. Gregoire.  That case concerns an attempt by convicted criminals to nullify a section of the Washington State Constitution that prohibits felons from voting.  (Previo ...

Author: Ralph W. Kasarda Yesterday the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an important decision in a case called Farrakhan v. Gregoire.  In Farrakhan, felons claimed that the state of Washington's felon disenfranchisement law violates section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, because the law results in a denial or abridgement of ...

Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act requires “covered” states to “preclear” any changes in their state election procedures with the federal government before those changes go into effect. Many southern states are covered by this requirement, as are various areas of other states (including California). The issue currently befo ...

Ever since the Supreme Court’s decision in Northwest Austin, it appears as though bailout is actually a real option for some jurisdicitons. This is a welcome development, but Section 5 is still unconstitutional.  I discussed the constitutionality of Section 5 at Stanford Law School in January.   … ...

From her interview with the Wall Street Journal: After the passage in 1996 of California’s Proposition 209, which banned the use of race and ethnicity in public university admissions in that state, “the system as a whole did not lose blacks, and minority graduation rates went up. Nobody wants to talk about that. All that … ...

Last week, PLF filed this brief in the United States Supreme Court in support of Shelby County, Alabama.  Shelby County is challenging the constitutionality of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.  PLF’s brief urges the Supreme Court to take up this very important case. The Voting Rights Act (Act) was an iconic piece of legislation.  It ...