In Congress We Trust?

Franita Tolson, Dean of University of Southern California (USC) Gould School of Law, is one of the nation's leading experts on election law and constitutional history. She has testified before Congress on voting rights, advised lawmakers and institutions on election reform, and served as a consultant on redistricting and voting rights litigation nationwide. A frequent media commentator for outlets such as CNN, MSNBC, and The New York Times, Tolson is also a co-author of the leading election law casebook, The Law of Democracy (Foundation Press, 2022).

'Franita Tolson brings a fresh perspective to the relevant history of voting rights in the United States. Tolson is a beautiful writer, and she effectively employs her immense talents in this highly informative, illuminating, and insightful combination of narrative and analysis. Tolson is the unrivaled master of this topic, and this book is now the go-to source for understanding it.' Edward B. Foley, The Ohio State University

• Introduction: the lost story of federal voting rights enforcement; Part I. Federalism and Republicanism as Political Norms: The Structural Constitution, State Political Systems, and the Regulation of Federal Elections: 1. Federal power under the guarantee clause amidst changing notions of republicanism; 2. Federalism as a political construct?: Federal power under the elections Clause and Article I, Section 5; Part II. From Madison's Republic to Jackson's Democracy: The Constitution of Political Rights and the Evolution of Political Communities: 3. Constructing 'we the people' and 'we the voters': a tale of two polities; 4. The fight to expand the boundaries of 'we the voters': from alter or abolish to the right to vote; Part III. Reconstruction: 5. Reinventing federalism?: The shift towards a national conception of voting and elections; 6. 'In whom is the right of suffrage?': Reconstruction legislation as political community redefined; Part IV. The Politics of Exclusion?: The Triumph of Partisan Politics over Broad Enfranchisement: 7. Voting as deservedness: policing the political community of 'we the voters'; 8. Congressional power at its nadar: federalism, judicial supremacy, and the long kiss goodnight; 9. In congress we trust?: A final curtain call for the reconstruction project; Epilogue: in congress we trust?; Lessons from a failed political experiment.