ACS New York: The Voting Rights Act, Race, Redistricting, & the Future of U.S. Democracy

Sixty years ago, the Voting Rights Act transformed—and even established—democracy in the U.S., by providing communities of color with a powerful legal tool to challenge racially discriminatory voting maps and other election regulations. However, for nearly just as long, the VRA has been under attack. In recent years, ruling on several legal challenges by conservative-led states and activists on the right, the Supreme Court has steadily chipped away at parts of the crown jewel of the Civil Rights revolution, significantly limiting the VRA's scope and impact.

This term, the Supreme Court seemed poised to strike another serious blow to the Voting Rights Act in Louisiana v. Callais, which questions the constitutionality of the longstanding statute's key remaining provision. The result could be devastating, halting not only further forward progress toward fair political representation but giving states and local governments a green light to return to discriminatory maps and other electoral rules that locked communities of color out of power. This panel will examine how we got here—including against the backdrop of the 2013 Shelby County and 2019 Rucho decisions and amidst mid-decade redistricting wars—the ranges of alternatives before the Court, and their implications for the future of a multiracial democracy in the U.S.

Please join the ACS New York Student Chapter and The Floersheimer Center for Constitutional Democracy for a timely and critical moderated conversation on the future of American democracy as leading experts on U.S. voting rights Wilfred Codrington (Cardozo School of Law), Sophia Lankin (ACLU), Michael Li (Brennan Center for Justice), and Jarret Berg (VoteEarlyNY) unpack the ongoing legal battles shaping representation in the United States, most notably the fight over continued viability of the Voting Rights Act.

Featuring:

Jarret Berg, Co-Founder and Voting Rights Counsel at VoteEarlyNY

Michael Li, Senior Counsel, Brennan Center for Justice

Sophia Lin Lakin, Director, ACLU Voting Rights Project

Wilfred U. Codrington III, Walter Floersheimer Professor of Constitutional Law, Cardozo School of Law

Moderated by:

Carl Unegbu, Lawyer, O'Carls Law; Vice Chair, ACS New York Chapter Board of Directors; Author, Comedy Goes to Court: When People Stop Laughing and Start Fighting

CLE Pending.

Register here!

For those attending virtually, please use the link here. If you’d like to receive CLE credit, be sure to register using the link above as well.