GVPT 170 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Incumbent, Majority Minority, Unanimous Consent
9 Apr 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Used to create majority minority districts to guarantee equal political rights for minorities. Key: in order to provide equal opportunity for minority voters" preferred candidates to be elected, minority voters must be the majority in that congressional district. Based in the voting rights act (vra) of 1965. Key us supreme court rulings on majority-minority congressional districts. Shaw v. reno (1933): a district created on no basis other than to include a majority of minorities might raise constitutional questions. Miller v. johnson (1995): race can be considered but can not be the predominant factor. Bartlett v strickland (2009): minority is not protected under vra if the minority would be less than 50% of proposed district. Shelby county v. holder (2013): struck down provisions in vra (section 5) that required some jurisdictions to get pre-approval from us department of justice before changing election laws. Positive electoral effect of a popular presidential candidate on congressional candidates of that party.
