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Professor Rushin Comments on How the Voting Rights Act Could Be Used for Police Reform

August 15, 2016

Professor Stephen Rushin is quoted in City Lab about how the Voting Rights Act could be used for police reform. 

“We think that model of waiting until something so terrible that it results in mass protests, and then responding after the fact, is basically the wrong way to go about this,” Rushin said.

Rushin and Jason Mazzone, Co-Director of the Program in Constitutional Theory, History & Law at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, published their research, “From Selma to Ferguson: The Voting Rights Act as a Blueprint for Police Reform,” which argues that the civil rights law passed in 1965 to mitigate voter discrimination also offers guidance on how to address policing.

For more, read “How the Voting Rights Act Could Be a Path to Police Reform.”


The University of Alabama School of Law strives to remain neutral on issues of public policy. The Law School’s communications team may facilitate interviews or share opinions expressed by faculty, staff, students, or other individuals regarding policy matters. However, those opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of the Law School, the University, or affiliated leadership.