The William H. Bowen School of Law at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and the UA Little Rock Law Review invite proposals for the 2027 Ben J. Altheimer Symposium, to be held at the Bowen School on Friday, March 5, 2027.
The annual Altheimer Symposium brings together prominent scholars and speakers to explore topics of significant interest to the legal and scholarly community. The 2027 Altheimer Symposium will examine the future of the Voting Rights Act in the wake of Louisiana v. Callais, the Supreme Court’s April 2026 decision that significantly narrowed Section 2 of the Act. In Callais, the Court held that Louisiana’s 2024 congressional map, which created a second majority-Black district to remedy racial vote dilution, was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander, and in doing so it reshaped the standard governing Section 2 vote-dilution claims. We invite participants to consider what Callais means for Section 2 litigation, for redistricting, and for the broader effort to protect minority voting rights.
Sara Rohani, Assistant Counsel at the Legal Defense Fund in Washington, D.C., will deliver the keynote address. Ms. Rohani litigates voting rights cases nationwide at the trial and appellate levels, including before the U.S. Supreme Court, and served on the litigation team in Callais. She will share her experience on the case and her perspective on its potential impact. We seek proposals for articles addressing any aspect of Callais and its consequences for the Voting Rights Act, including its constitutional dimensions, its effects on redistricting and voting rights litigation, and proposed responses from courts, legislatures, or advocates. We welcome proposals reflecting a range of perspectives on the decision. Authors of accepted proposals will be invited to present at the Symposium and their articles will be published in the UA Little Rock Law Review.
Proposals should include an abstract of no more than 500 words and a current CV and be submitted to hmalone@ualr.edu no later than Saturday, November 14, 2026. Authors will be notified of decisions no later than Wednesday, November 18, 2026.
Questions should be directed to the UA Little Rock Law Review Symposium Editor, Hannah Malone, at hmalone@ualr.edu.