Election Law: Redistricting, Gerrymandering, and Civil Rights

Legal Talk Network producer Laurence Colletti interviews Benjamin Griffith, Robert Heath, Nancy Abudu, Tanya Clay House, and Nicole Austin-Hillery about election law at the 2015 American Bar Association Annual Meeting. The guests explain the history of election law and why redistricting is necessary, gerrymandering or packing similar voters into a district, and how legal cases often involve racial discrimination. This very complicated and important area of the law involves the disciplines of demography and political science, and directly affects the way the United States’ democratic system works.

Benjamin E. Griffith is the principal in Griffith Law Firm in Oxford, Mississippi. He specializes in the election law and voting rights field including civil rights defense and institutional or insurance defense.

Robert Heath is a partner at the firm of Bickerstaff Heath Delgado Acosta in Austin, Texas, where he represents local and state governments dealing with election law issues.

Nancy Abudu is the legal director for the ACLU of Florida. She is based in the Miami office. They cover voting rights, criminal justice, immigrants rights, reproductive rights, education law, and more.

Tanya Clay House is the public policy director at the Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights Law, whose mission is to eliminate civil rights discrimination and protect civil rights laws.

Nicole Austin-Hillery is the director and council for the Washington branch of the Brennan Center for Justice, a national legal advocacy think tank that is affiliated with the New York University School of Law.