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If the Court determines that an election law imposes a “severe burden,” then strict scrutiny applies and the government must carefully justify its practice without receiving any deference. Although in the 1960s the Court often employed strict scrutiny, the Court subsequently adopted a balancing test, frequently referred to as “ Anderson- Burdick” balancing after the two main cases that set out the standard, Anderson v. The Supreme Court has been somewhat fickle on the level of scrutiny to apply when it comes to the fundamental right to vote. None of these rules are necessary to fix any problems with Tennessee’s elections.īut for legal nerds and those who care about the scope of election law litigation, the path the court took to find the law (likely) unconstitutional was particularly interesting.Īny constitutional challenge to a particular governmental practice includes a threshold question: what level of scrutiny applies? The level of scrutiny, as most lawyers know, essentially dictates the lens through which the court will analyze the governmental action: strict scrutiny means that the court will not defer to the government for its purpose or method at all, while a lower level of scrutiny will give the government greater leeway.
DEFINE STRICT SCRUTINY REGISTRATION
Moreover, the law would criminalize groups who turn in too many incomplete voter registration forms while imposing a strict timing requirement on when forms must be turned in. Imposing arduous rules-such as requirements that groups register with the state before conducting voter registration drives, take a government-provided training, and seek consent before retaining a voters’ information to use in get-out-the-vote efforts-places unnecessary barriers on the constitutional right to vote. That’s good news the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals should affirm the decision if the state appeals. On September 12, 2019, a federal district court granted a preliminary injunction against the law, finding that the law would unconstitutionally infringe on the rights of those who conduct registration drives. In April 2019, Tennessee enacted a law that would make it harder for individuals and organizations to register people to vote. Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation.Technology Law and Intellectual Property.Regulation and the Administrative State.
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