Taking Voting Rights Seriously: Rediscovering the Fifteenth Amendment

I. Introduction II. Tracing the Development of Fifteenth Amendment Theory ... A. Early Efforts to End the Reign of Terror at the Ballot Box ... B. Origins of Judicial Intervention to Protect Black Voting Rights ... 1. The Fifteenth Amendment Challenges of 1915 ... 2. The Two Fourteenth Amendment Cases ... 3. New Grandfather Clauses, Vote Fraud, "Understand and Explain" Tests, and White Party Primaries ... C. Gomillion v. Lightfoot: A Crossroads? III. The Penumbra of the Fourteenth Amendment: The One-Person, One-Vote Apportionment Cases ... A. The Concern for Judicial Manageability ... B. Mathematical Equality: A Substitute for Representation ... 1. The Talisman of Mathematical Precision ... 2. The Double Standard of Apportionment ... C. The Constitutional Dilution Suit ... 1. Setting Standards for Court Ordered Plans ... 2. The Struggle Over Standards of Proof in Dilution Claims IV. Racial Dilution Claims under the Voting Rights Act V. The Future of the Fifteenth Amendment ... A. Congressional Power ... 1. The Scope of Permissable Action ... 2. The Fifteenth Amendment Rationale for Safe Districting and Proportional Representation VI. Conclusion