The Conflict Between Scholars and Policymakers

That is the title of a wonderful post over at Prof. Hasen's blog written by Spencer Overton on the VRA Renewal. While I have a number of problems with VRA, I think Overton makes a solid argument that sometimes the academic debates over legislative issues, while intriguing and informative often overlook the intensely political undercurrents and overtones of the legislative process. Much of the VRA renewal, at least in the later stages of the debate, was about politics and the likely power struggles that will happen in years hence, a factor often overlooked by academic debaters.

One thing is for certain about the VRA renewal--it will be headed for Court challenges, it will be on the Supreme Court docket in a couple of years and I am convinced that it will have some parts of it voided by the Court. For that reason alone, a 25 year renewal period is probably unwarranted. But that is a topic of another post.