Voting Rights From Reconstruction to the Roberts Court Seminar

3 units

Drop deadline: 11:59 p.m. on the day after the first class meeting. From debates about voter ID laws to political and legal battles over redistricting, race and voting rights are intertwined in our society. This course analyzes the intersection of race and voting rights from a legal and historical perspective. This course will also examine questions of federalism and Congress's Reconstruction Amendment enforcement authority. The first part of the course addresses the expansion of Black male suffrage during Reconstruction and the ratifications of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. It then canvasses the establishment of Jim Crow in the late 1800s and the large-scale disenfranchisement of Black voters. The second part examines the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and its 1982 amendments, with particular attention paid to Sections 2 and 5 of the VRA as well as the Shaw line of cases. This part will also focus on race-based redistricting and racially polarized voting. The last part of the course covers contemporary issues in voting rights, such as the Supreme Court's decisions in Shelby County v. Holder , Brnovich v. DNC , and Louisiana v. Callais , as well as current proposals to amend the VRA. Grades will be based on class participation and a 20-30 page research paper. Papers should be double-spaced in 12-point, Times New Roman font. Feedback will be provided on a first draft of the research paper. [This course contains 5 or more hours of BCCCR instruction.]