Common Ground Events

Event Description

Debate Society and Common Ground are collaborating to present an Oxford-style student debate, which is a formal debate format that uses audience feedback to determine the winner. Dinner will be provided.

Our speakers will debate the resolution: "RESOLVED, that compliance with the Voting Rights Act constitutionally justifies race-predominant redistricting." Our speakers are Iain McGiffin '26 (affirmative) and Pedro Barata '28 (negation).

This motion captures the central tension of Louisiana v. Callais, a case currently before the Supreme Court. After Louisiana lost a Voting Rights Act challenge to its initial congressional map, which contained only one majority-minority district out of six, despite the state being roughly one-third Black, the state adopted a revised map with two majority-minority districts. A group of non-African-American voters then filed suit, arguing that the new map constitutes unconstitutional racial discrimination. Among other issues, the plaintiffs ask the Court to determine whether intentionally creating majority-minority districts to comply with Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act violates the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments.