The latest virtual issue of PS features articles written by alumni of the Congressional Fellowship Program (CFP) from 2010 to 2015. The CFP fellows serve yearlong placements in congressional and executive offices, and they chronicle their firsthand experiences in the pages of PS. Enjoy the full virtual issue here.
Lest Congress Forgets: A Fellow’s Walk and Institutional Partisanship in Contemporary Representational Politics
Tyson King-Meadows, University of Maryland Baltimore County
“Perhaps the most underappreciated dimension in public response to the post-Bush v. Gore controversies involving state election administration and Supreme Court jurisprudence involving the right to vote has been the central role of Congress in enforcing the Fifteenth Amendment. As a scholar of American electoral politics, legislative representation, and black political engagement, I sought placement with the House Committee on the Judiciary of the 113th Congress [hereafter the Judiciary Committee] to learn more about the history of congressional efforts to nationalize election standards and to protect voting rights. I was especially interested in examining how members of Congress thought about the recent spate of judicial rulings affecting federal election law and how members imagined the future of congressional action to address racial and socioeconomic disparities in participation and representation. Moreover, I relished the opportunity to work for Michigan Rep. John Conyers (Thirteenth District). Conyers is a founding member and the “Dean” of the Congressional Black Caucus, the first African American chair of and then-ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, the second most senior member of the House, and is a member of the original enacting coalition of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) of 1965…” Read More.
- Read more Capitol Hill Insights in PS: Political Science & Politics.
- Learn more about the Congressional Fellowship Program.
PS: Political Science & Politics / Volume 47 / Issue 01 / January 2014, pp 257-259