This book provides an up-to-date analysis of American voting rights law and the numerous controversies surrounding minority representation.

This book provides an up-to-date analysis of American voting rights law and the numerous controversies surrounding minority representation. Written by authors with first-hand experience in the case law, the book details the evolution of the law and precedent from 1965 onwards. The authors explain the logic underlying the major decisions, introduce the reader to the procedures for establishing standards of representation and measuring discrimination, and discuss the major points of recent contention. In conclusion, they address the implications of recent developments in voting rights law for the future of representation in America.

Introduction
1. The right to vote and the right to representation
2. The evolution of a vote dilution standard through 1986
3. The vote dilution standard in the post-Gingles era: clarifications and complications in the lower courts
4. Defining and measuring racially polarized voting and other elements of the totality of the circumstances
5. Vote dillution in single-memberdistricts and other issues of the 1990s
6. The voting rights act and the realistic politics of second best: an optimistic look to the future
Index.