Wed 3/24 @ 4PM
The Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage has a full schedule of programming around its current exhibit, Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. And there is so much to explore around the issues the late U.S. Supreme Court justice and human rights/social justice advocate was involved in.
One of those was the foundational issue that opens the door to action on every other issue: fair elections. In its online program, “I Dissent: Voting Rights & Election Discussion,” the Honorable Patricia A. Blackmon of Ohio’s 8th District Court of Appeals and the ACLU’s Elizabeth Bonham will look at two decisions that upended U.S. elections and helped to steal the voice of the voters: the 2000 Bush v Gore case and 2013’s Shelby County v. Holder.
Many are familiar with the former, when the final result of the presidential election was held up for more than a month. It was the case that shut down the counting of votes in nine Florida counties when George Bush led Al Gore by 537 votes, awarding the presidency to Bush. (Months later a media recount of the ballots showed that the recount would have cut Bush’s margin in half, likely triggering a statewide recount which would have given the state — and the presidency — to Gore).
Shelby County v. Holder was extremely consequential as well. It invalidated a key part of the 1965 Voting Rights Act which required jurisdictions with a history of voter suppression to get preclearance before making any changes to their voting process. We see the impact of that now in the hundreds of voter suppression laws being proposed and enacted around the country to slash voter access and prevent certain types of voters (minorities, poor, young) from being able to vote with the same ease as more affluent and, typically, white voters. Ginsburg was a vocal opponent of all attempts to make elections less democratic and less accessible.
The online program is free for Maltz Museum members and members of program partners; it’s $10 for others. It also qualified for Continuing Legal Education credit for lawyers for $40. To register email cle@clemetrobar.org
To sign up for the discussion go here.