Correspondence from Schnapper to Days

1 page

Document text

The following text has been generated automatically during the document scanning process. It may contain errors, omissions, or incorrect formatting. Please refer to the PDF document if this text is not usable.

Download

By downloading, publishing, or reusing the Materials outside of the Website, you hereby confirm and attest that you have read and agree to the LDF Archival Collection Terms of Use linked below. We draw your attention to the following:

For those Materials owned by LDF, your use of the Material outside the Site is solely for one or more of the following (the “Permitted Purposes”):

Non-commercial research and private study;
Teaching, scholarship and instruction (including distance learning);
Non-commercial print and non-commercial online use;
Criticism, comment or news reporting; or
For people with visual disabilities (See Section 121 of the Copyright Act).
For those Materials not owned by LDF you understand that:
- It is your responsibility to determine whether the way you plan to use the materials falls within the copyright exception of Fair Use.
- For any use outside of Fair Use, it is your responsibility to seek and obtain all required permissions from any existing rights holders.

LDF hereby grants you the right to use LDF owned Materials for the Permitted Purposes without seeking further permission from LDF.

If you publish or redistribute any Materials (including excerpts and quotes), you must include a credit line and/or proper citation to the source of the Material. However, you may not use the name of LDF in any manner which creates any false association between you and LDF or that incorrectly implies any sponsorship or endorsement of you by LDF.

NOTICE: Uses that do not comply with these Terms or that do not fall under Fair Use (or another exception) may make you liable for copyright infringement.

Read the full LDF Archival Collection Terms of Use Here.

I agree to the terms and conditions for use of this content.

If you would like to use this content in other ways, contact us at .

Impact area
- Political Participation
Topic
- Voting Rights
Matter
- Mobile v. Bolden
Case
- Mobile v. Bolden
U.S. state
- Alabama
Collection
- Case Files
Taxonomy
Identifier
- 40c255c6-cdcd-ef11-8ee9-6045bddb7cb0

Cite this item

Case Files, Bolden v. Mobile Hardbacks and Appendices. Correspondence from Schnapper to Days, 1978. 40c255c6-cdcd-ef11-8ee9-6045bddb7cb0. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/21eb0e5b-9140-474c-9bed-a0b08578b45b/correspondence-from-schnapper-to-days. Accessed December 04, 2025.

Copied!

    November 1, 1978 

Prew S. Days, III 

Assistant Attorney General 
Civil Rights Division 
Department of Justice 
Washington, D.C. 

Dear Drew: 

The Supreme Court has taken two cases 
involving the rule of White v. Regester, 412 
U.S. 755 (1973), that the use of at-large 

elections may be forbidden if they disenfranchise 
minority voters, City of Mobile v, Bolden, 

No. 77-1844; Williams v. Brown, No. 78-357. 

Some members of the Court have for several 
years been uneasy about the developing caselaw, 
and we suspect there may be a major retrench- 
ment. The greatest dangers are that they will 
hold White does not apply to city elections, or 
that White is bad law after Washington v. Davis. 
The issue is of great importance, since at-large 
voting schemes are by far the most important 
device now in use in the south to keep blacks 
from holding public office or wielding any 

political power. 

  

  

  

  

An amicus brief from the government would, 

needless to say, be welcome. If these cases 
are of possible interest to you, I would be glad 
to provide the relevant materials to whoever in 
the Department might work on them. 

Yours gincerely, 

Sr a tr 

Eric Schnapper 
ES:aa 

  

10" COLUMBUS CIRCLE 586-8397 NEW YORK," N, ¥Y.: TOO 11'S

Copyright notice

This collection and the tools to navigate it (the “Collection”) are available to the public for general educational and research purposes, as well as to preserve and contextualize the history of the content and materials it contains (the “Materials”). Like other archival collections, such as those found in libraries, LDF owns the physical source Materials that have been digitized for the Collection; however, LDF does not own the underlying copyright or other rights in all items and there are limits on how you can use the Materials. By accessing and using the Material, you acknowledge your agreement to the Terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the Materials.

Additional info

To the extent that LDF includes information about the Materials’ origins or ownership or provides summaries or transcripts of original source Materials, LDF does not warrant or guarantee the accuracy of such information, transcripts or summaries, and shall not be responsible for any inaccuracies.

Correspondence from Schnapper to Days

Impact area

Topic

Matter

Case

U.S. state

Collection

Taxonomy

Identifier

Cite this item

Copyright notice

Additional info

You may also be interested in