LAW 759 - Voting Rights

Course Type: Upper Level Elective
Credits: 2

Conditions: This course is not open to those students who have already taken LAW669.
Description: This course surveys the law and policy governing voting access, political representation, and contested elections. The course will explore political, philosophical, and constitutional conceptions of the right to vote and how the electorate is defined in constitutional text, statute, and in practice. Readings will cover leading Supreme Court voting rights decisions from South Carolina v. Katzenbach, Baker v. Carr through Shelby County v. Holder and Allen v. Milligan. The course will begin with the development of the “right” to vote as a matter of constitutional law under the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments during Reconstruction, then explore the multiracial coalitional movement precipitating the Voting Rights Act of 1965 while parsing its’ main provisions (dormant and active).

This course will also examine the legality of barriers to voting, including photo identification requirements, restrictions on absentee ballots, and felon disenfranchisement. Because of the inherently political nature of voting, this course will address controversies surrounding expanding voter access and preventing alleged voter fraud while also identifying and analyzing the political philosophies underlying major judicial decisions and the arguments of parties in voting cases. Lastly, we will study redistricting, the Electoral College, and the administrative, judicial, and congressional remedies available when elections are contested.