Today we’re digging into the Fourteenth Amendment. No, not the part we usually talk about, Section 1, with its privileges or immunities, equal protection, and all that. Not even Section 4 (debt ceiling?) or Section 3 (rebellion stuff). No, we’re digging into a super interesting case involving Section 2, the part that lowers a state’s Congressional representation if it abridges the right to vote. Jared Pettinato of Citizens for Constitutional Integrity, counsel in the lawsuit, joins us to discuss what it’s all about. We learn the history of Section 2, how Jared represents voters in states that lost members of Congress in the last census, how he’s suing the Census Bureau via the Administrative Procedure Act, and what a three-judge panel recently said about his clients’ standing. He also previews what’s ahead at the D.C. Circuit. After all that IJ’s Sam Gedge discusses Footnote 4. Not, not that Footnote 4, but a recent one from the Second Circuit that kind of said unpublished cases are actually published. Or did it?

Click here for transcript.

Citizens for Constitutional Integrity v. Census Bureau

U.S. v. Montague

Politico article on Jared’s case

Jared Pettinato

Sam Gedge

Anthony Sanders

Recent Episodes

Short Circuit 445 | Crazytown

Time for The Big One. So many have so many takes on the Ninth Circuit that, as part of our #12Months12Circuits series, we at IJ […]

Listen Now

Short Circuit 443 | Irreparable Speech Harms

In our #12Months12Circuits series a nation turns its lonely eyes to the heartland. The true middle of America. The Eighth Circuit. We’re joined by true […]

Listen Now