Total Credits: .3 CLE, 1 Ethics
This seminar will focus on the state of existing protections in elections including discussion of the US Constitution's plain language on right to vote and current redistricting issues.
| Seminar Handout (823.8 KB) | 4 Pages | Available after Purchase |
Michael Li serves as senior counsel for the Brennan Center’s Democracy Program, where his work focuses on redistricting, voting rights, and elections. Prior to joining the Brennan Center, Li practiced law at Baker Botts L.L.P. in Dallas for ten years. He was the author of a widely cited blog on redistricting and election law issues that the New York Times called “indispensable.” He is a regular writer and commentator on election law issues, appearing on PBS Newshour, MSNBC, and NPR, and in print in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Roll Call, Vox, National Journal, Texas Tribune, Dallas Morning News, and San Antonio Express-News, among others.
In addition to his election law work, Li previously served as executive director of Be One Texas, a donor alliance that oversaw strategic and targeted investments in nonprofit organizations working to increase voter participation and engagement in historically disadvantaged African American and Hispanic communities in Texas. Li received his JD with honors from Tulane Law School and an undergraduate degree in history from the University of Texas at Austin.
Professor Morley joined FSU Law in 2018, and teaches and writes in the areas of election law, constitutional law, remedies, and the federal courts. His research focuses on election emergencies, the constitutional right to vote, and the Electoral Count Act, as well as the equitable powers of the federal courts. He is an elected member of the American Law Institute and serves as an advisor for the ALI’s Restatement of Torts: Remedies project. Professor Morley is a member of the Florida Advisory Committee for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, and was the 2021 Chair of the AALS Section on Election Law. He has testified before congressional committees, made presentations to election officials for the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, and participated in bipartisan blue-ribbon groups to develop election reforms. The Governor of Florida also appointed Professor Morley to the Criminal Punishment Code Task Force to propose potential revisions to the legislature.
Professor Morley’s work has been published in many of the nation’s top law reviews, including the Georgetown Law Journal, Virginia Law Review, and Northwestern University Law Review. The U.S. Supreme Court has cited Professor Morley’s articles, and he was counsel of record for the successful Petitioner in a landmark campaign finance case. Professor Morley has appeared on C-SPAN, Court TV, Fox News and numerous local news programs, and has been quoted in The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Roll Call, Politico, U.S. News & World Report, and a wide range of other national publications. Before joining FSU Law, Professor Morley was a Climenko Fellow and Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School. Prior to his experience in academia, he served in government as Special Assistant to the General Counsel of the Army at the Pentagon, as well as a law clerk for Judge Gerald B. Tjoflat of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. During his tenure with the Army General Counsel’s office, he was awarded the Meritorious Civilian Service Award and the Army Staff Lapel Pin. He also worked as an associate at Williams & Connolly LLP and the Critical Motions & Appeals group of Winston & Strawn, LLP, both in Washington, D.C. Professor Morley earned his J.D. from Yale Law School in 2003, where he was a senior editor on the Yale Law Journal; served on the moot court board; and received the Thurman Arnold Prize for Best Oralist in the Morris Tyler Moot Court of Appeals.
Jess Unger serves as Senior Staff Attorney for voting rights with the Southern Poverty Law Center. He received his BA in Political Science and Government from Sarah Lawrence College and his J.D. in 2016 from Georgetown University Law Center.
Joyce White Vance is a Distinguished Visiting Lecturer in Law. She served as the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama from 2009 to 2017. She was nominated for that position by President Barack Obama in May of 2009 and unanimously confirmed by the Senate in August of 2009. Professor Vance served on the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee and was the Co-Chair of its Criminal Practice Subcommittee. As U.S. Attorney, she was responsible for overseeing all federal criminal investigations and prosecutions in north Alabama, including matters involving civil rights, national security, cybercrime, public corruption, health care and corporate fraud, violent crime and drug trafficking. She was also responsible for affirmative and defensive civil litigation on behalf of the government and for all federal criminal and civil appeals.
Before becoming U.S. Attorney, Professor Vance served as an Assistant United States Attorney in Birmingham for 18 years. She spent ten years as a criminal prosecutor, before moving to the Appellate Division in 2002. She became the Chief of that Division in 2005. Prior to her work as a federal prosecutor, she spent six years as a litigator in private practice, first at Arent, Fox, Kintner, Plotkin & Kahn in Washington D.C., and then at Bradley, Arant, Rose & White, now Bradley, Arant, Boult & Cummings, in Birmingham. Professor Vance received a B.A. from Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, magna cum laude, and a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of law.