RegGateway

FINAL AGENDA	Track 1	Administrative Events
	Track 2	Meals & Social Activities
	Track 3	Seminars and Discussion Panels

All conference sessions are in the Airlie House, Federal Room, unless otherwise noted

Friday October 8, 2010 (Afternoon)

1:30 P.M. – 2:30 P.M.

Conference Registration (North Room)

2:30 P.M. - 4:00 P.M.

Panel I: Race, Reform and Independent Redistricting Commissions
In recent years, there have been efforts to push independent redistricting commissions and other redistricting reforms at the state and federal levels. Questions remain about whether these reforms place minority voters in a more vulnerable position and provide adequate protection for the interests of minority voters. The costs and benefits of these reform proposals will be weighed. An overview on where states stand on the issues will be provided. Discussion and analysis of proposals to address the census miscount of prison populations will also be addressed.

Moderator: Jenigh Garrett Assistant Counsel NAACP LDF	Kathay Feng Executive Director California Common Cause	Esmeralda Simmons	Joaquin G. Avila Executive Director National Voting Rights Advocacy Initiative & Distinguished Practitioner in Residence Seattle University, School of law

4:00 P.M. – 4:45 P.M.

Room Registratin (Airlie Front Desk)

4:45 P.M. - 5:00 P.M.

Welcome & Introduction
John Payton President & Director-Counsel NAACP LDF

5:00 P.M. – 6:00 P.M.

Keynote Speaker
Prof. Sherrilyn Ifill
University of Maryland School of Law

6:00 P.M. - 7:00 P.M.

Dinner

7:00 P.M. – 8:30 P.M.

Panel II: Nuts & Bolts: The Redistricting Process from a Minority Voting Rights Perspective
This panel will provide a general overview of the redistricting process, including the logistics of the redistricting process; the timelines surrounding redistricting; and the legal principles that govern redistricting, with a special emphasis on the protection of minority voting rights. This panel will address technical issues such as the release of the Census redistricting data file (the P.L. 94-171 data file); anticipated data challenges in selected jurisdictions; and a basic description of the software tools available in preparing redistricting plans. Legal topics covered will include the one person, one vote requirement and state redistricting principles.

Moderator: Dale Ho Assistant Counsel NAACP LDF	John Flateau, Ph D. New York State Senate Office of Intergovernmental Relations	Rep. Richard Gallot Louisiana State House of Representatives	Cathy McCully Chief 2010 Census Redistricting Data Office

8:45 P.M. - 11:30 P.M.

Networking & Social Gathering (Whistling SwanPub)

Saturday October 9, 2010

7:00 A.M.– 8:00 A.M.

Breakfast (Airlie Room)

7:30 A.M – 8:00 A.M

Conference Registration (North Room)

8:00 A.M. - 9:30 A.M.

Panel III: Role of the Section 5 Preclearance Provision During Redistricting
This panel will provide an overview of the Section 5 preclearance provision of the Voting Rights Act and discuss its important role during redistricting. The panel will look closely at the Department of Justice’s Section 5 preclearance process and offer strategies for filing effective Comment Letters during the DOJ review process. Close examination of changes made to Section 5 during the course of the past decade will be provided, including a review of Congress’s 2006 reauthorization. The panel will also provide a discussion of key Section 5 voting rights cases, including changes Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District Number One v. Holder (NAMUDNO), 129 S. Ct. 2504 (2009) (adopting an expanded interpretation of which jurisdictions are eligible to seek “bailout” pursuant to Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act and declining to reach question concerning the constitutionality of Section 5 of the Act). Finally, this panel will also provide a brief discussion of the bailout provision of the Act.

Moderator: Kristen Clarke Co-Director, Political Participation Group NAACP LDF	Julie A. Fernandes Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division U.S. Department of Justice	J. Gerald Hebert Executive Director & Director of Litigation Campaign Legal Center	Jon Greenbaum Legal Director Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law d

9:30 A.M. - 11:00 A.M.

Panel IV: Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act & Redistricting
This panel will provide an overview of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, and discuss its success both as a tool for greatly expanding minority political participation and representation and for protecting minority voting rights in the redistricting process. This panel will discuss the types of actions that can be brought under Section 2 (drawing distinctions between vote dilution and denial cases), and will look closely at the threshold elements of a Section 2 case, as outlined in the Supreme Court’s seminal ruling in Gingles, and the role that the Senate Factors play in litigating a Section 2 case. Drawing from past successful cases, this panel will outline strategies, from a practitioner’s perspective, for bringing successful Section 2 cases in this legal climate, when cases are best brought, and what types of evidence must be marshaled to build a successful Section 2 case. Finally, this panel will provide a brief overview of Supreme Court’s key Section 2 cases from Mobile, in which the Court required a plaintiff to prove that the challenged measure at hand was enacted or maintained by an invidious purpose, to Bartlett, in which the Court just last year found that Section 2 only contemplates the creation of districts that are at least 50 percent minority in population and, thus, leaving sub-50% districts unprotected.

Moderator: Gilda Daniels University of Baltimore School of Law	Nina Perales Southwest Regional Counsel MALDEF	Meredith Bell Staff Counsel ACLU Voting Rights Project	Richard L. Engstrom Visiting Research Fellow Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity, and Gender in the Social Sciences & Visiting Professor of Political Science Duke University

11:00 A.M.- 11:20 P.M.

Break

11:20 A.M.- 12:45 P.M.

Panel V: Developing Effective Advocacy Strategies & Fostering Active Community Participation in the Legislative Process
One critical aspect of the redistricting process is input from the community. This panel will focus on the critical role that advocates and leaders can play during the redistricting process and highlight the benefits of opening community participation in a meaningful way. The panel will discuss how to raise minority vote dilution and community of interest concerns in a way that preserves a record of discrimination when it is afoot while withstanding constitutional scrutiny if litigation later ensues.

Moderator: Jenigh Garrett Assistant Counsel NAACP LDF	Donita Judge Project Director of Redistricting and Staff Attorney Advancement Project	Glenn D. Magpantay Director, Democracy Program Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund

Rosalind Gold
Senior Director
Policy Research and Advocacy
NALEO

Derrick Johnson
President
NAACP Mississippi State Conference

12:45 P.M.- 2:00 P.M.

Lunch (Airlie Room)

2:00 P.M. - 3:45 P.M.

Concurrent Sessions
Attendees have the opportunity to choose between 3 concurrent small-group sessions.

Group 1: Introduction to Redistricting Software & Technology
Offers a hands-on introduction into redistricting software technology. Attendees will also be given the opportunity to handle an actual redistricting exercise for a hypothetical jurisdiction.
This session is co-sponsored with the Southern Coalition for Social Justice Community Census & Redistricting Institute

Leader:

Anthony Fairfax

Southern Coalition for Social Justice Community Census & Redistricting Institute

Group 2: Issues Faced by Minority Language Voters
Will focus on the unique challenges faced by minority language voters in the redistricting process.

Leader:

Nancy Ramirez

Western Regional Counsel, MALDEF

Group 3:The Central Role of Experts in the Redistricting Process
Will focus on the role of experts in the redistricting process. This session will provide an overview of the work of redistricting experts; describe what expert resources are available to legislators, community advocates and lawyers; and provide a closer look at the methods used by of experts in analyzing districting plans, including methods for measuring racially polarized voting such as ecological inference.

Leaders:

Prof. Nathaniel Persily
Columbia Law School

Prof. Kareem Crayton
University of North Carolina

3:45 P.M. - 4:00 P.M.

Break

3:30 P.M. - 4:00 PM

Room Registration (Airlie Front Desk)

4:00 P.M. - 5:30 P.M.

Panel VI: Litigation Strategies: Ensuring Protection of Minority Voting Rights
In some instances, communities may need to turn to the courts to defend and protect minority voting rights during the redistricting cycle. This panel will consider the costs and benefits of such litigation, while outlining strategies for bringing successful suits. Special attention will be given to redistricting plans that “crack” cohesive groups of minority voters or unnecessarily “pack” minority voters into small numbers of districts. The importance of developing an adequate legislative record and other steps that should be taken where it appears that litigation is likely will be considered. Specific attention will be given to the challenges of bringing Section 2 vote denial claims that require proof of discriminatory purpose underlying the adoption of a redistricting plan.

Debo Adegbile Associate Director-Counsel NAACP LDF	Anita Earls Executive Director Southern Coalition for Social Justice	Brenda Wright Director, Democracy Program Demos	Pamela Karlan Harle Montgomery Professor of Public Interest Law & Co-Director, Supreme Court Litigation Clinic Stanford Law School

5:30 P.M. – 6:30 P.M

Dinner & Closing

7:30 P.M. - 11:30 PM

Networking & Social Gathering (Whistling SwanPub)

Sunday October 10, 2010

7:00 A.M. - 8:45 A.M.

Breakfast

9:00 A.M. Shuttles Depart for Area Airports and Union Station

The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Thanks You For Your Participation