Reply #29: If I remember rightly a pattern or practice is needed [View All]

[lawladyprof]

and (on shakier) grounds here that the long waiting lines were a de facto (becoming de jure by virtue of the pattern or practice mentioned above) poll tax, throw in a pinch (well, more than a pinch--of adverse impact reasoning) then link the whole kit and kaboodle to the Equal Protection Clause (race b/c that's the only protected class under the Fourteenth Amendment that will work). You could analogize to desegregation cases where the school district drew attendance lines to create segregated schools (as opposed to pure de jure segregation where the state had a constitutional or statutory provision forbidding Blacks and Whites from attending school together. Maybe the lawyer pool needs to include some civil rights lawyers rather than strictly election law attorneys. NAACP anyone?

Subject line edited.