Howard Law Students Brief House Judiciary Members on Section 2 of the 14th Amendment

On April 14, Howard University School of Law students in Prof. Sherrilyn Ifill’s 14th Amendment seminar met with the the Democratic caucus of the House Judiciary Committee to present their research on Section 2 of the 14th Amendment, also known as the Reduction Clause.

Hosted by the committee’s ranking member, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the students offered lawmakers an overview of the remedial measures Congress is authorized to take under Section 2 whenever voters are disenfranchised in federal or state elections.

As the students explained during their presentation, the Reduction Clause, which Congress has never meaningfully invoked in remedial voting rights legislation, was considered “the most important” by Thaddeus Stevens, one of the framers of the 14th Amendment. “The effect of this provision will be either to compel the States to grant universal suffrage or so to shear them of their power as to keep them forever in a hopeless minority in the national Government, both legislative and executive,” Stevens observed during the legislative debates in the 39th Congress.

The importance of Section 2 of the 14th Amendment becomes more pronounced in light of recent decisions weakening the Voting Rights Act, the principal tool used to protect against voter suppression. As one federal appeals judge noted in a concurrence in a recent challenge brought under Section 2, “members of Congress and agency officials have undertaken shamefully few actions to implement” this section of the 14th Amendment.

The students who participated in the congressional briefing are Oreoluwa Adewale, Maya Buchanan, Emmalyse Daniels, Summer Ford, Lauren Holley, Spencer Jones, Gregory Molock, Jake Smith, and Jakayla Williams.