Local Government Law Symposium
| VOLUME
27 |
Winter 1998
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NUMBER
3 |
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Congressional Redistricting in Texas: Time for a Change
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Javier Aguilar |
| Special Assistant Attorney General Aguilar examines the Texas Legislature’s congressional redistricting from 1962 through 1997. The Article discusses the effect of important shifts in voting redistricting law and the Texas Legislature’s efforts to protect congressional incumbents through restricting. Aguilar advocates implementing a nonpartisan redistricting commission to fairly draw voting district lines. He states that a redistricting commission would prevent the dual problems of the Legislature implementing incumbency protection and the resulting litigation |
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Is Cumulative Voting Too Complex?
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Richard L. Engstrom, Robert R. Brischetto |
| The Authors analyze the results of participant polling in elections using cumulative voting and conclude this nontraditional solution to enhancing minority voting power is not too complicated to be helpful. These findings add support to Professor Richard Engstrom’s 1992 article for the Local Government Law Symposium, in which he reviews alternative methods to redistricting |
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The Voting Rights Act: Defending a Section 2 Case - The Issue Revisited
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Vincent R. Fontana |
| The Author reprises his 1992 essay in the Local Government Law Symposium examining a Section 2 case. He counsels that the best course is to begin the "defense" as soon as new census data becomes available every ten years. Governments must be proactive in responding to changing demographics and in providing services and addressing the political realities of their populations |
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Public Funding of Sports Stadiums and Other Recreational Facilities: Can the Deal Be "Too Sweet"?
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Emeline C. Acton, Mary Helen Campbell |
| This Article traces the evolution of Florida’s "public purpose" doctrine, which the Florida Supreme Court has carved out as an exception to the Florida Constitution’s general prohibition against the lending public credit to private entities. Municipalities have frequently relied upon the public purpose doctrine to justify building stadiums, arenas, and other recreational facilities, despite some benefit that accrues to a private entity. In a case that revolved around the public purpose doctrine, the Authors recently represented Hillsborough County in litigation involving the financing of a new stadium in Tampa. The Authors discuss the Florida Supreme Court’s recent application of the public purpose doctrine, and conclude that even if a project involves a substantial benefit to a private entity, the project will likely be constitutional if it promotes recreation and tourism |
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Lawyer v. Department of Justice: Florida's Dance with the Districting Demon
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William Jack Dempsey |
| The United States Supreme Court has struggled with the conflict between the Voting Rights Act and the mandates of the Fourteenth Amendment. While the Act’s purpose is to protect minority representation, the Court has interpreted the Fourteenth Amendment to prohibit states from making predominantly race-conscious decisions when drawing voting districts. This interpretation has created a vague, shape-based test for new or altered districts, and caused a flood of litigation following the latest nationwide redistricting in 1990. Because redistricting is required after each decennial census, states need sound judicial guidance to avoid costly and time-consuming litigation following the next census in 2000. In this Note, William Jack Dempsey examines the Court’s latest tangle with the Voting Rights Act in Lawyer v. Department of Justice to determine whether such sound guidance is forthcoming, or whether the Court has avoided the issue altogether by accepting Florida’s settlement plan. |
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