Document Type
Article
Publication
Yale Law & Policy Review : Inter Alia
Year
2021
Citation Information
Delaram Takyar, "The Cornerstone of the Stability of Our Government": The Forgotten Penalty Clause and Electoral Reform in the Aftermath of the 2020 Election, 39 Yale L. & Pol'y Rev. Inter Alia 1 (2021), available at https://scholar.law.colorado.edu/faculty-articles/1727.
Abstract
The 2020 presidential election, which was preceded by months of efforts by Republican party members to disenfranchise voters during a global pandemic, highlighted the United States' historic need for electoral reform. The tools for this reform might already exist in the Penalty Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, which provides a built-in remedy—reduced representation in Congress—in cases where a state abridges the voting rights of its citizens. This Remark provides an overview of the history of the long-neglected Penalty Clause, including a discussion of how important its drafters viewed its role, as well as practical proposals for ways it could be implemented today.
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