The book "Ballot Blocked: The Political Erosion of the Voting Rights Act" by Jesse Rhodes, political science, is cited in an article about Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts’ history of decisions on the issue of voting rights.

The committee unanimously selected Paul Collins (University of Massachusetts, Amherst) to receive this year’s Service Award. Paul is recognized for his long history of service to the Section via committee work, the provision of public goods via accessible datasets, and other service. Most notably, Paul managed the Section’s Listserv from 2013-2019, handled many List conflicts with patience and professionalism, and ran and delivered the results (via a 53-page report) of the important survey in 2019 that shed light on serious issues with certain List participants’ behaviors and their effects on Section members. The Law and Courts Section thanks Paul for his tremendous contributions!

Commenting in an article on Rep. Richard Neal’s victory over challenger and Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse in yesterday’s Democratic primary election for the 1st Congressional District seat, Ray La Raja, political science, said Neal’s enormous name recognition and ability to use his power to help his district made him hard to beat. “Even though he’s a Washington insider, he tends to his constituency quite a bit,” said La Raja.  (CommonWealth, 9/1/20)

On Aug. 26, 2020, ahead of the Massachusetts primary election, three expert panelists from the UMass College of Social and Behavioral Sciences (SBS) participated in a webinar that examined the upcoming primary and general elections and policy issues through an interdisciplinary lens. Introduction: Dean John Hird, UMass Amherst College of Social and Behavioral Sciences Panelists: Stephanie Murray '18, POLITICO Massachusetts Playbook Author Tatishe Nteta, Associate Professor of Political Science & Director of UMass Poll Jesse Rhodes, Chair and Professor of Political Science & Associate Director of UMass Poll Moderator Jennifer Lundquist, Senior Associate Dean of Research and Faculty Development, Professor of Sociology.

If you missed the webinar, watch it here or read the full event recap.