Courts must confront the burden of distance

That's the headline for my Op-Ed published this week in the National Law Journal.  In it, I criticize the Texas legislature in regard to the obstacles they place in the way of citizens' exercise of their fundamental rights--including the right to vote and the right to to get an abortion.  In turn, I criticize the Fifth Circuit for finding that these laws do not place an undue burden on the exercise of these rights, including for the rural poor.  Lastly, I criticize the U.S. Supreme Court for failing to grapple with the distance issue in a way that makes clear to states and federal courts that the burden on the rural and the poor is one that takes more than grit and determination to overcome.  In short, I challenge federal courts to engage rural spatiality in a more realistic way--and to stop articulating an urbanormative jurisprudence.  Read more here.

My earlier academic article on this topic is here, and an earlier op-ed, from January, 2015, in the Austin-American Statesman, is here.