University of Pittsburgh Legal Scholars Available to Comment on U.S. Supreme Court Ruling in Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder, Attorney General, et al

PITTSBURGH— Legal scholars William M. Carter, Jr., professor of law and dean in the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, and Jessie Allen, assistant professor of law, are available to comment on the U.S. Supreme Courtdecision in Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder, Attorney General, et al., a five-to-four opinion involving the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Carter is a leading national authority on constitutional law, civil rights, international human rights law, and civil litigation. His articles have been published in such highly respected law journals as the Columbia Law Review, the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, and the UCLA Law Review, among others. He also has contributed chapters to The Legal Parameters of Slavery (Oxford University Press, 2012) and The Promises of Liberty: The History and Contemporary Relevance of the Thirteenth Amendment (Columbia University Press, 2010). 

Carter received his JD degree magna cum laude and Order of the Coif from the Case Western Reserve University School of Law.

Prior to joining the Pitt Law faculty in 2010, Allen focused her litigation and policy analysis on voting rights. During the 2008 election cycle, she litigated voting rights issues as a senior attorney with the Washington, D.C.-based civil rights organization Advancement Project. She also was a staff attorney at New York University School of Law’s Brennan Center for Justice, where she litigated criminal disenfranchisement cases, including a class action suit that challenged Florida’s permanent voting ban for anyone convicted of a felony.

Allen earned the Doctor of the Science of Law degree at Columbia Law School and the JD degree summa cum laude at Brooklyn Law School.

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6/25/13/mab/cjhm