This week, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF) filed a motion seeking to intervene in a lawsuit on behalf of the Florida State Conference of the NAACP and African-American voters to prevent the State of Florida from implementing discriminatory voting laws.

By George E. Curry
President Obama discarded his carefully-crafted image of Compromiser-in-Chief Thursday night by proposing a surprisingly bold American Jobs Act that calls for nearly $500 billion in federal spending and tax cuts to jolt the sagging U.S. economy.

By Dale Ho and Peter Wagner via the LA Daily News
Prison-based gerrymandering is no trivial matter. There are more than 2 million incarcerated people in America, a total population larger than that of 15 individual states, and larger than our three smallest states combined. If they were a state, the incarcerated population would qualify for five votes in the Electoral College. Where they are counted has tremendous implications for the shape of our democracy.

Prison-based gerrymandering distorts the meaning and reality of democracy and undermines efforts to build fairness into the current redistricting process.

By Lee A. Daniels
Warning to all who intend to follow the 2012 presidential election: better have a sturdy pair of hip waders handy, because the muck right-wing extremists and fellow-travelers have been shoveling out of the cesspool of American society into the respectable political discourse since President Obama took office is likely to become a deluge.

A New York Supreme Court judge has cleared the way for civil rights organizations representing fifteen voters from across New York State to join the Attorney General in defending New York’s law ending “prison-based gerrymandering,” a practice that had distorted representation across New York State.

By Kenneth J. Cooper
This June Denver, with a population that is 10 percent black, elected its second African American mayor – one more than its more populous brethren, New York, Los Angeles or Chicago, have produced.

By Kenneth J. Cooper
Setti Warren made state history in 2009 by becoming the first black mayor elected in Massachusetts. Now, after just 18 months in office, the 40-year-old mayor of Newton, an upscale suburb, is trying to make a great leap to the U.S. Senate.

The organizations argue that Florida has failed to meet its burden of showing that these changes to its Election Law will not have a retrogressive effect on minority voting rights, or that they were not adopted with a discriminatory purpose, as is required under the Section 5 preclearance provision of the Voting Rights Act.