Louisiana Law Review Louisiana Law Review
Volume 79
Number 3
Spring 2019
Article 8
4-30-2019
Equal Voting Rights Require Removing Race and Partisan Equal Voting Rights Require Removing Race and Partisan
Discrimination from Elections and Legislative Gerrymandering Discrimination from Elections and Legislative Gerrymandering
L. Darnell Weeden
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Repository Citation Repository Citation
L. Darnell Weeden,
Equal Voting Rights Require Removing Race and Partisan Discrimination from
Elections and Legislative Gerrymandering
, 79 La. L. Rev. (2019)
Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.lsu.edu/lalrev/vol79/iss3/8
This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Reviews and Journals at LSU Law Digital
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Equal Voting Rights Require Removing Race and
Partisan Discrimination from Elections and
Legislative Gerrymandering
L. Darnell Weeden⃰
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction .................................................................................. 781
I. America Is Challenged to Reevaluate and Protect the
Fundamental Right to Vote Against Racial Targeting ................. 783
II. Race Is Too Sensitive a Factor to be Considered in
Legislative Gerrymandering ......................................................... 787
A. Easley v. Cromartie ............................................................... 787
B. Cooper v. Harris .................................................................... 794
III. Both Partisan and Racial Gerrymandering Should Be
Rejected Because There Is No Reasonable Way to
Distinguish Between the Two ...................................................... 797
A. Partisan Politics as an Illegitimate Defense Where
Race Is a Factor in Legislative Redistricting ......................... 798
B. Redistricting’s Legitimate Goal Is Fair Representation......... 800
Conclusion .................................................................................... 804
INTRODUCTION
Judge Mark Walker ruled on February 1, 2018 that Florida’s vote-
restoration process had wrongly impacted 1.5 million Floridians’ right to
vote. A Republican-led clemency board implemented this process, headed
Copyright 2019, by L. DARNELL WEEDEN.
⃰ Associate Dean for Facult y Development and Research, Roberson King
Professor, Thurgood Marshall School of Law, Texas Southern University; B.A.,
J.D., University of Mississippi. I would like to acknowledge my wife and children
for their kindness as I p roduced this article. I will also like to acknowledge my
research assistant, Alfredo Ramos, Juris Doctor candidate, 2018, for his helpful
research assistance.
