This is a big week for voting rights oral arguments. Yesterday, before the New York Court of Appeals , I argued on behalf of the plaintiffs in Clarke v. Town of Newburgh , a challenge to the town’s at-large electoral system under the New York Voting Rights Act. The Town argues that the NYVRA violates the Equal Protection Clause, and much of the argument focused on federal constitutional issues. Here are some excerpts from our brief :

Given precedent and practice, this analysis also has only one possible conclusion: considering race to prevent or remedy a breach of an antidiscrimination law is perfectly permissible. In the voting rights context, the U.S. Supreme Court said so just two years ago. “[F]or the last four decades, this Court and the lower federal courts … have authorized

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