Atlanta, Georgia Hosts Latest Voting Rights Institute to Train New Generation of Voting Rights Lawyers

The Campaign Legal Center’s latest Voting Rights Institute training will take place on Friday, March 28 in Atlanta, Georgia. At the session, co-hosted by American Constitution Society, practitioners and law students will learn the ins and outs of the enforcement of voting rights law.  Cases brought to enforce Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, and the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution will be a particular focus of the training.  

The half-day training program, taught by some of the most respected voting rights practitioners in the country, will count toward Continuing Legal Education (CLE).  This will be the third Institute training held outside of Washington, DC.  Earlier this year, trainings were held in New York City and Columbus, Ohio.

“The Supreme Court in its Shelby County decision drastically altered voting rights in America, significantly disadvantaging voters in the courts, but cases must be brought to protect the rights of all Americans to vote and a new generation of litigators must be trained to bring these cases,” said J. Gerald Hebert, Executive Director of the Campaign Legal Center.  “To understand this pressing need for new litigators, one need look no further than the wake of the Shelby County decision which has seen laws passed by states and municipalities across the country to curb the voting rights of Americans.”

Experts in the field will provide background on the Voting Rights Act and relevant federal court cases to participants and will then focus on the mechanics of litigating voting rights cases.  The Voting Rights Act will be covered in detail and participants will learn how it impacts voting rights laws on a state-by-state basis.  J. Gerald Hebert, serves as lead instructor and is joined by veteran voting rights litigators and scholars in the field.

In addition to Mr. Hebert, the Institute’s expert faculty will include: Laughlin McDonald (Special Counsel and Director Emeritus, American Civil Liberties Union Voting Rights Project); Gilda Daniels (Professor of Law, University of Baltimore Law School); Armand Derfner (Constitutional Law Scholar-in-Residence, Charleston School of Law); Nina Perales (Vice President of Litigation, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund).

Financial support from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund (rbf.org) and the Wallace Global Fund for the Voting Rights Institute is gratefully acknowledged.  

To read the full agenda for the Atlanta training, click here.