On May 22^nd, the United States Supreme Court, in Cooper v. Harris, No. 15-1262, struck down two North Carolina congressional districts holding that race played too large a factor in drawing the districts’ borders.  Writing for the 5-3 majority, Justice Kagan said that a plaintiff challenging a voting district must prove that “race (not politics) was the ‘predominant consideration in deciding to place a significant number of voters within or without a particular district.’”  If you are interested in learning more about the constitutionality and history of gerrymandering, the library has several resources that can help. Listed below are a few of the more current sources on the topic.

Nicholas R. Seabrook, Drawing the Lines: Constraints on Partisan Gerrymandering in U.S. Politics (2017)

Radical redistricting plans, such as that pushed through by Texas governor Rick Perry in 2003, are frequently used for partisan purposes. Perry’s plan sent twenty-one Republicans (and only eleven Democrats) to Congress in the 2004 elections. Such heavy-handed tactics strike many as contrary to basic democratic principles. In Drawing the Lines, Nicholas R. Seabrook uses a combination of political science methods and legal studies insights to investigate the effects of redistricting on U.S. House elections. He concludes that partisan gerrymandering poses far less of a threat to democratic accountability than conventional wisdom would suggest.—From the publisher

Anthony McGann, ed., Gerrymandering in America: The House of Representatives, the Supreme Court, and the Future of Popular Sovereignty (2016)

This book considers the causes and consequences of partisan gerrymandering in the U.S. House. The Supreme Court’s decision in Vieth v. Jubelirer (2004) made challenging a district plan on ground of partisan gerrymandering practically impossible. Through a rigorous scientific analysis of US House district maps, the authors argue that partisan bias increased dramatically in the 2010 redistricting round after the Vieth decision, both at the national and state level. From a constitutional perspective, unrestrained partisan gerrymandering poses a critical threat to a central pillar of American democracy — popular sovereignty. State legislatures now effectively determine the political composition of the US House. The book answers the Court’s challenge to find a new standard for gerrymandering that is both constitutionally grounded and legally manageable. It argues that the scientifically rigorous partisan symmetry measure is an appropriate legal standard for partisan gerrymandering, as it is a necessary condition of individual equality and can be practically applied.—From the publisher

Tinsley E. Yarbrough, Race and Redistricting: the Shaw-Cromartie Cases (2002)

Race and Redistricting spotlights efforts to “racially engineer” voting districts in an effort to achieve fair representation. By examining one state’s efforts to confront such dilemmas, it helps readers better understand future disputes over race and politics, as well as the ongoing debates over our “color-blind” constitution.—From the publisher

Marsha Jean Tyson Darling, ed., Race, Voting, and Redistricting and the Constitution: Sources and Explorations on the Fifteenth Amendment (2001)

This three-volume work includes chapters containing the text of primary sources, such as the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments of the Constitution, the Civil Rights Acts, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and legislative documents pertaining to the passage of those laws.  Chapters also include scholarly commentary on Gerrymandering Hypocrisy: Supreme Court’s Double Standard, Making Sense Out of the Way We Should Vote, and the Case for Proportional Representation.

With the debate over the repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act raging, you might be interested in researching the act.  The library has 36 titles that are tagged with the subject, United States and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.  Listed below are a few of those titles.

Purva H. Rawal, The Affordable Care Act: Examining the Facts (2016).

This is the first reference book to provide a detailed assessment of the Affordable Care Act, explaining the realities and myths surrounding one of the most divisive political struggles in recent U.S. history.  This is an e-book.  If you are off campus, you will need to implement the proxy instructions in a web browser.

Steven Brill, America’s bitter pill: Money, Politics, Backroom Deals, and the Fight to Fix our Broken Healthcare System (2015).

This book details how the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, was written, how it is being implemented, and, most important, how it is changing—and failing to change—the rampant abuses in the healthcare industry. It’s a fly-on-the-wall account of the titanic fight to pass a 961-page law aimed at fixing America’s largest, most dysfunctional industry.

Josh Blackman, Unraveled: Obamacare, Religious Liberty, and Executive Power (2016).

Six years after its enactment, this book provides the definitive account of the battle to stop Obamacare from being ‘woven into the fabric of America’. Unraveled is essential reading to understand the future of the Affordable Care Act in America’s gridlocked government in 2016, and beyond. This is an e-book.  If you are off campus, you will need to implement the proxy instructions in a web browser.

Josh Blackman, Unprecedented: The Constitutional Challenge to Obamacare (2013).

This inside story of the legal challenge to Obamacare from a conservative constitutional lawyer involved in the movement is a mixture of legal, political, and media intrigue capped by a truly consequential Supreme Court decision.

The Library is implementing a new system to manage interlibrary loans called World Share Interlibrary Loan Prime.  The system will streamline interlibrary loan service. Interlibrary loan (ILL) is the service that gives you access to the resources of other libraries. You can use ILL to borrow books, and to obtain PDFs of articles and book chapters that the library does not own. The new system contains functionality that will speed the fulfillment of interlibrary loan requests.  Patrons will use their BLS username and password to sign on and make requests. The system will go live on January 23, 2017.

Current ILLiad Users:

There is a new user interface for creating and managing requests.  You will notice a few difference from ILLiad, the previous system.  The new service displays all of your requests on a single page, links to articles, and details about the status of your request and item due dates.  You can also submit new requests from this interface.  The emails and notifications that you receive will look a little different as well.  For those who have outstanding requests in ILLiad, those requests will transfer over to the new system.

We hope that these changes enhance your library experience and streamline how you manage your requests! If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact the Interlibrary Loan Team at ill@brooklaw.edu.