ACS Bay Area: Winning the House: How Election Litigation Determined the 2022 Midterms

The 2022 midterm election was narrowly decided. For days after Election Day, it was unclear which party would control the U.S. House of Representatives. The Republican Party ultimately won control with 222 seats to the Democrats’ 213. If five contests had gone the other way, the House would have remained in the Democrats’ control. This outcome did not occur in a vacuum: the way votes were cast and counted in November 2022 was determined in many places by judges. The courts that decided lawsuits involving redistricting, election mechanics, and voting rights issues may have ultimately been more decisive to control of Congress than voters’ choices between candidates. Join the ACS Bay Area Lawyer Chapter for a discussion between nationally leading election law experts and practitioners about how the results of a handful of cases may have determined the results of the 2022 midterms, and broader trends in voting rights and election litigation.

Panelists:

Pamela S. Karlan, Kenneth and Harle Montgomery Professor of Public Interest Law and Co-Director, Supreme Court Litigation Clinic, Stanford Law School; ACS Bay Area Board of Advisors

Michael Li, Senior Counsel for Democracy Program, Brennan Center for Justice, New York University Law School

Moderator:

Matt Coles, Professor of Practice, University of California College of the Law, San Francisco