Election Law Class is a Go!

Wow.

I received an incredible response to my idea about a Substack Voting Rights and Election Law Class.

So I’m going to move forward. Thank you to so many who signed up as paid subscribers.

This coming week is therefore Week 1.

If you haven’t signed up yet, you can do it here:

Every week, I’ll send out both basic readings as well as a short video suggesting what people look for and think about as they do the reading.

The first video is above. And as I explain, the first week’s reading is the Constitution itself.

If you have one handy, read through it.

Or go to this link to do so.

As you read through it, please do so with one thing in mind: pick out the clauses in both the original Constitution, and the Amendments that followed, that relate to voting and elections for various positions in the United States.

What do these clauses tell us about the Founding vision for democracy in America? The original notion about voting—who voted, whether it was a right, what offices did citizens get to vote for? etc. And how did the later Amendments change that….and not change that?

And…what choices were made that led to this initial structure, as well as the structure and language of the Civil War Amendments? What constraints did these choices create going forward? What opportunities did they leave open for future changes?

So that’s the basic assignment, and most of what I’ll talk about in Week 1.

For those interested in doing some additional reading, I recommend reviewing a few cases that demonstrate how the Supreme Court treated some of these questions in the late 1800s and early 1900s (the link to each case is provided in its title):

1. Minor v. Happersett (1874) (deciding whether or not women have the right to vote after the XIV Amendment)

2. Williams v. Mississippi (1898) (whether an all-white jury, resulting from the removal of Black Mississipians from the voter rolls, violated the 14th Amendment)

3. Pope v. Williams (1904) (whether Maryland’s voter registration system violated the 14th Amendment)

4. Giles v. Harris (1903) (whether the new Alabama Constitution that disenfranchised Black voters violated the 14th Amendment)

5. Breedlove v. Suttles (1937) (whether a Georgia poll tax violated the Constitution)

I’ll send the first week’s class late in the week, addressing all these questions and more.

Again, to get access, elevate to paid subscription here:

And feel free to share this course with others.