Ruth Greenwood
@ruthgreenwood.bsky.social
Director, Election Law Clinic at Harvard Law School.
LOVE this new research from Asya Magazinnik and her co authors - I love when political scientists analyze empirical questions I want the answer to (but have no idea how to assess myself): papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Assessing District Elections as a Remedy in State Voting Rights Acts
As federal voting rights protections recede, state-level voting rights acts (VRAs) have become the principal legal tool for safeguarding minority representation
papers.ssrn.com
Here's something I don't say often...well done Missouri on your pro-democracy reform! boltsmag.org/gop-run-miss...
GOP-Run Missouri Becomes Latest State to Roll Back Felony Disenfranchisement - Bolts
A new law will restore voting rights for tens of thousands of people on probation and parole. It’s a departure from other GOP bills this session to restrict democracy.
boltsmag.org
I felt this comment as a bit of a gut punch from Jim Blacksher. In McClure 11CA oral argument (racial gerrymandering claim), in response to a request about whether Section 2 VRA requires SMDs in Jefferson County, AL, "I don't think section 2 requires anything, anywhere, after Callais."
Count me in! www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news... Who's with me?
Civil rights leaders announce ‘March on Washington’ to defend voting rights
Led by Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network and joined by Martin Luther King III, civil rights leaders announced plans for a Washington march to defend voting rights.
nbcnews.com
The Voting Rights Act transformed local governments in the South, especially county commissions that control a lot of public budgeting. Public spending on Black areas grew The end of the Voting Rights Act in Callais might reverse this significantly www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdf/10.1...
This is 100% correct and helps explain why I feel so frustrated with this Supreme Court term. I particularly appreciate the explanation of how Rucho (a case I litigated) has been completely twisted. As if it weren't bad enough already. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
Iconic line from @stevevladeck.bsky.social here in response to Will Baude’s SCOTUS boosterism www.nytimes.com/2026/07/01/o...
Yes Justice Jackson! Anticaste, antisubordination reconstruction amendments!
If only Barrett had included this in Callais (and flipped sides)- and left the VRA to Congress, as the Constitution intended. (from Watson v RNC). #StillSaltyAboutCallais.
Love seeing some public education around ranked choice voting on a brief visit to DC!
Depressing but true - it's both partisan hackery and racial discrimination. What a combo.
@wendyweiser.bsky.social · 2mo agoMost commentators puzzled by the unprincipled Roberts Court ruling in the AL redistricting case conclude that the only possible explanation is rank partisanship. There is another possibility. Maybe the majority is condoning and promoting race discrimination. The evidence supports either explanation.
"More and more, this Court shows itself to be little more than a partisan tool engaged in results-oriented jurisprudence, despite protestations to the contrary." @rickhasen.bsky.social nailed it. I weep for democracy after last night's shadow docket ruling electionlawblog.org?p=156541
Breaking: The Supreme Court, Over the Dissent of the 3 Liberal Justices, Allows Alabama to Use Maps that a Lower Court Found to Be Intentionally Discriminating Against Black Voters (Now Updated with A...
You can find the 21 pages of order and dissents at this link. In an unsigned opinion, the Supreme Court is allowing Alabama to change its congressional district lines at the last minute to impose a ma...
electionlawblog.org
here's what i wrote
Asawin Suebsaeng@swin24.bsky.social · 2mo ago- @jamellebouie.net’s column not long before his reelection on how a second Trump era would likely mean the end of the American republic as we knew it (he didn’t mean 🇺🇸 literally wouldn’t exist; the U.S. has gone thru multiple republics already) has rung in my brain for the past year and a half
These judges are nurturing my soul. Justice is still possible in America! Democracy is limping, but surviving...
Michael Li (李之樸)@mcpli.bsky.social · 2mo ago🚨BREAKING: 3-judge panel finds that congressional map that Alabama wants to use for this year's midterms is intentionally discriminatory and issues a preliminary injunction. drive.google.com/file/d/1K2Zf...
🫠
Steve Vladeck@stevevladeck.bsky.social · 2mo agoIt's going to be hilarious (in the soul-crushing way) to see how fast Alabama goes to #SCOTUS for a stay of this ruling under Purcell, after obtaining relief from the Court from a similar injunction <checks notes> 15 days ago on the ground that it *wasn't* too close to the election.
if trump can't be audited ever, can't he now release all his tax returns? i realize it's a sideshow to the corruption circus, but still.
Rick Hasen @rickhasen.bsky.social · 3mo agoMust-Read NYT’s Peter Baker on Trump’s Unprecedented Scale of Corruption in Office (Gift Link) electionlawblog.org?p=156293
PlanScore predicting an overall US House bias in favor of Republicans (more efficient conversion of votes into seats - not necessarily more total seats) after the VA decision yesterday planscore.org#!predict0-us.... Woof.
😂 I can’t even read this with a straight face 😂
Lawrence Hurley@lawrencehurley.bsky.social · 3mo agoNEW: Chief Justice John Roberts bemoans that Americans don't understand how the Supreme Court operates and see justices as "political actors". The court at times simply has to make "unpopular" decisions, he adds: www.nbcnews.com/politics/sup...
Melanoma is no joke. Ask any Australian. Most of us know someone who died from melanoma (for me, my cousin). RFK needs to see the Australian Cancer Council's "there's nothing sexy about a tan" PSAs. Also, just my opinion here (no science involved): leathery tanned skin is gross.
Joanne Freeman@jbf1755.bsky.social · 3mo agoFor crying out fricken’ loud.
Court reform now.
Steve Vladeck@stevevladeck.bsky.social · 3mo agoTwo different technical, procedural moves from #SCOTUS yesterday have one thing in common: The Court is behaving differently in otherwise similar cases based upon the ideological/partisan valence of the dispute. Via "One First," me on why, results aside, that's a serious indictment of the Court:
![SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
No. 25A1197 (24-109 and 24-110)
一
PHILLIP CALLAIS, ET AL., APPLICANTS v.
LOUISIANA, ET AL.
ON APPLICATION TO ISSUE THE JUDGMENT FORTHWITH
[May 4, 2026]
To permit the losing party time to file a petition for re-hearing, the Clerk of Court ordinarily waits 32 days after the entry of the Court's judgment to send the opinion and a certified copy of the judgment to the clerk of the lower court.
Sup. Ct. Rule 45.3. This period is subject to adjustment; the default applies "unless the Court or a Justice shortens or extends the time." Ibid. The Callais appellees have asked for the Clerk to issue the judgment forthwith so that "in the event of a judicial remedy," the District Court may "oversee an orderly process." App. 3. Appellant Louisiana does not oppose this application. And while the Robinson appellants oppose it, they have not expressed any intent to ask this Court to reconsider its judgment. Thus, the application to issue the judgment forthwith presented to JUSTICE ALITO and by him referred to the Court is granted.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:36eqtmzysqf7wsslczw4uxcd/bafkreib6qi5rm4isu3umgaxads7cnlwh45xeu7rotc6s6vwmjpmjtp6ij4)
The Court's faith in districting algorithms in Callais is pretty stark to read against the "sociological gobbledygook" dismissed in Rucho.
