Events at Reed

Voting rights are not only fundamental, but are "uniquely resistant to normal modes of enforcement; they are extraordinary rights in need of extraordinary protection," says Justin Levitt. But what form will this enforcement take? Legal scholars have been warning for years that the preclearance formula of the Voting Rights Act was at risk, but there is virtually no chance that a Congress that can't even agree to pay its debts will agree on a new coverage formula. These extraordinary rights are at extraordinary risk. Levitt worked as the National Voter Protection Counsel for the Obama campaign in 2008 and served for five years as counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University Law School. Sponsored by the Public Policy Lecture Series and the Elizabeth C. Ducey Political Science Lecture Fund.