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We the People

Recapping Allen v. Milligan: The Court Upholds Section 2 of the VRA

We the People

National Constitution Center

News, News Commentary, History

4.61.1K Ratings

🗓️ 22 June 2023

⏱️ 54 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court handed down a major voting rights decision in the Allen v. Milligan case. In a 5-4 ruling, the Court upheld Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and found that Alabama’s 2022 congressional map likely violated Section 2. This comes as a surprising victory for voting rights and the Thornburg v. Gingles (1986) test after a series of other Supreme Court cases that have narrowed the scope of the Voting Rights Act, including the Brnovich v. DNC case in 2021 and Shelby County v. Holder in 2013. The decision was written by Chief Justice John Roberts and was joined by Justice Brett Kavanaugh along with the liberal justices. In this episode, Jason Torchinsky of Holtzman Vogel and Rick Hasen of UCLA School of Law join host Jeffrey Rosen to break down the Allen decision; discuss why Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Kavanaugh voted with the liberal justices to uphold the Gingles framework; what other conservative justices Thomas, Alito and Gorsuch wrote in dissent; and what this means for redistricting and voting rights in 2024 and beyond.  Resources: Allen v. Milligan (June 2023) Jason Torchinsky, Amicus Brief on Behalf of the National Republican Redistricting Trust Rick Hasen, “John Roberts Throws a Curveball,” NYT (June 8, 2023) Thornburg v. Gingles (1986) Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (1965)  Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org.    Continue today’s conversation on Facebook and Twitter using @ConstitutionCtr.    Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate, at bit.ly/constitutionweekly.    You can find transcripts for each episode on the podcast pages in our Media Library.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hello friends. I'm Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution

0:07.0

Center and welcome to We The We The National Constitution Center is a nonpartisan nonprofit

0:15.0

chartered by Congress to increase awareness and understanding of the

0:18.2

Constitution among the American people.

0:21.4

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court handed down a major voting rights decision in the

0:26.1

Allen and Milligan case.

0:28.1

In a five to four ruling, the Court upheld the 1982 amendments to the Voting Rights Act and found that Alabama's

0:34.4

congressional map was likely to violate section 2. In this episode of

0:39.1

We The People will break down the Allen decision and ask what it means for the future

0:42.4

of voting rights in America.

0:44.7

Joining us are two of America's leading scholars of election law.

0:48.9

Rick Hassan is professor of law and political science at the UCLA School of Law.

0:54.0

He has written about the Allen decision in the New York Times and

0:56.8

slate and is the author of Cheap Speech,

0:59.7

how disinformation poisons our politics and how to cure it. Rick it's great to welcome

1:05.5

you back to we the people. It's always good to be with you and Jason Korsinski is a

1:10.3

partner at Holtzman Vogel specializing in campaign finance and election law.

1:15.1

He filed a brief on behalf of the National Republican Redistricting Trust in support of Alabama

1:19.7

in this case.

1:20.7

Jason, welcome back to We the People.

1:23.7

Thank you for having me.

1:25.7

Let's start with the obvious question.

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