Higginbotham Memorial Lecture 2026

Presenting this year’s Higginbotham Memorial Lecture will be Guy-Uriel E. Charles, Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and Director of the Charles Hamilton Institute for Race and Justice.

The Voting Rights Act's reign has come to an end. For almost fifty years, the Act has served as the crown jewel of the Civil Rights Movement. It seemed like a permanent fixture of American democracy. But the Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais marked the end of the Act. By eliminating the Act’s last meaningful mechanism for protecting minority voting rights, the Court delivered the final blow to the statute as an effective antidiscrimination and antimajoritarian statutory safeguard. The Court’s decision in Callais was not surprising, though it was disappointing. It represents the culmination of a constitutional transformation more than a decade in the making. Over many cases, the Supreme Court has systematically taken apart the institutional and doctrinal scaffolding that made the modern Voting Rights Act effective. This lecture will explore how this happened and what the end of the Act means for racial equality in a multiracial America.

CLE Information:

This program has been approved for a total of 1.5 Substantive CLE credits for Pennsylvania lawyers. CLE credit may be available in other jurisdictions as well. Attendees seeking CLE credit can make a payment via cash or check made payable to ”The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania” on the day of the event or prior to the event via the online registration link in the amount of $60.00 ($30.00 public interest/non-profit attorneys). In order to receive the appropriate amount of credit, evaluation forms must be completed.

Penn Carey Law Alumni receive CLE credits free through The W.P. Carey Foundation’s generous commitment to Lifelong Learning.

About the Speaker:

Guy Charles is the Charles J. Ogletree Jr. Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. His scholarship focuses on how law mediates political power and addresses racial subordination. He teaches courses on civil procedure, election law, constitutional law, race and law, legislation and statutory interpretation, law, economics, and politics, and law, identity, and politics. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Law Institute. He was appointed by former President Biden to the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States. Prof. Charles received his JD from the University of Michigan Law School and clerked for the Honorable Damon J. Keith of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.