Lawyer Who Wrote Voting Law Sues & Collects, as Gov't Officials Steam Over $4.3M Won
Only one legal group in California is suing to enforce the state’s unique voting rights law. And a key attorney in that group helped draft it and get it enacted.
This is aggravating officials of several governmental entities from which the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area has won some $4.3 million in settlements, reports the Associated Press.
The California statute, which reportedly may be the only state voting rights act in the country, makes it easier for plaintiffs to sue than federal voting rights law.
Robert Rubin, the committee’s legal director, and professor Joaquin Avila of Seattle University School of Law created the California statute. It is intended to protect minority candidates from being shut out of the political process by at-large elections that dilute the power of minority voting districts.
But all of the litigation brought under the voting rights law was initiated by Rubin or Avila and pursued by attorneys working with them, the AP reports. While there is nothing illegal about that, it has been another aggravating factor in an already-annoying situation to those defending the litigation.
“It’s a money grab,” contends superintendent John Stafford of the Madera Unified School District. It wound up with a $1.2 million settlement bill even though the district never contested a lawsuit, the news agency says.
He and other opponents say the law may do little or nothing to remedy discrimination and meanwhile diverts money from being spent on more worthwhile purposes.
Additional coverage:
Associated Press: “A glance at the California Voting Rights Act”
