- Royce Fellowship
Bradley
Silverman
Concentration
Political Science and Economics
Award Year
2012
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 Under Democratic and Republican Administrations: Is There a Partisan Bias in Enforcement of Section 5?
Faculty Sponsor: Steven G. Calabresi (Northwestern University)
Under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the Justice Department must preclear all laws affecting voting in jurisdictions with histories of discriminatory voting practices. Using federal records dating back from 1965, Bradley will review each individual preclearance decision made by the Justice Department since the law's implementation and examine how presidential administrations over time have enforced the act. Bradley’s research analyzed White House partisanship and bureaucratic factors in Washington, D.C., and was informed by material from the Department of Justice, the National Archives, the Supreme Court and the Library of Congress.