Municipal Insurance Pools and Disenfranchisement in Indian Country

Joseph Dietrich, Jean Schroedel, Kara Mazareas and Joseph Lake

Social Science Quarterly, 2021, vol. 102, issue 2, 649-662

Abstract: Objective Our objective is to establish the impact of a litigation pattern used by defendants in voting rights cases in Indian Country which relies on municipal insurance pools and the barring of fee recovery. Methods We use history and case studies from four states to demonstrate the argument. Results Court is the only option for challenging disenfranchisement of voters, but cases require financial resources often unavailable to Native American plaintiffs. Defendants, typically state and local governments, do not face similar resource constraints as they participate in municipal insurance pools. Defendants, therefore, attempt to raise litigation costs to pressure plaintiffs to dispose of cases. If defendants think they will lose, they settle, preventing plaintiffs from recovering litigation costs or setting a precedent. This form of voting rights infringement discourages others from filing lawsuits as the financial impact can be devastating. Conclusion We conclude that the states provide a new arena to litigate voting rights cases.

Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1111/ssqu.12937

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:socsci:v:102:y:2021:i:2:p:649-662

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.blackwell ... bs.asp?ref=0038-4941

Access Statistics for this article

Social Science Quarterly is currently edited by Robert L. Lineberry

More articles in Social Science Quarterly from Southwestern Social Science Association
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().