Summary: The University of Georgia Law School is holding a conference devoted to the issues surrounding gerrymandering.
With gerrymandering becoming a more common problem, law students at the University of Georgia School of Law are preparing to take on the issue in a conference. The conference, “Walking the Line: Modern Gerrymandering & Partisanship,” will be held in the Larry Walker Room of Dean Rusk Hall on the University of Georgia North Campus.
The conference is open to the public but will likely be filled with lawyers, students, and scholars. They will discuss the current and future state of redistricting and how to draw voting district lines. The speakers during the conference will address a diverse set of opinions and voices on topics related to political science, election law, and politics.
Law students who are members of the Georgia Law Review organized the event. Conference organizer and third-year law student John E Farmer Jr. said in a release reported by the Daily Report, “The U.S. Supreme Court’s pending docket is the driving force behind this year’s conference theme, which will allow for important and timely dialogue on gerrymandering practices and redistricting.”
Other panel topics include Voting Rights Act of 1965, stemming a constitutional debate over partisan gerrymandering and redistricting implications in the state of Georgia. The conference organizers selected legal and political science scholars and practitioners to serve as panel members.
The keynote speaker is set to be Nicholas Stephanopoulos, a Fried Research Scholar at the University of Chicago Law School. He is an attorney for the plaintiffs in Gill v. Whitford, the legal challenge to Wisconsin’s redistricting plan. The oral arguments in the case were held before the U.S. Supreme Court in October 2017.
The conference organizers have asked all attendees to register via georgialawreview.org. UGA faculty, students, and staff are free to attend. Nonattorneys must pay $12. Attorneys using the conference for continuing legal education can get credit for 4.5 hours, of which 1.5 is Trial Practice and 1 hour is for Professionalism. These attorneys have to pay $80.
Do you think gerrymandering happens in every state? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.
To learn more about the gerrymandering issues, read these articles:
- North Carolina Congressional Map Found to Be Gerrymandering
- Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Gerrymandering Case
- Top Supreme Court Issues for this Term
Photo: wikipedia.org