“In response to criticism for failing to enforce Section 2, the Department of Justice has recently adopted a curious new public position – that it is conducting a record number of Section 2 investigations.   Assistant Attorney General Perez recently told the National Secretaries of State that the DOJ has opened “almost 100” Section 2 investigations.  This is a public relations strategy without substance. 

    “Here is what is actually happening.  Soon after I and others criticized the DOJ for a lack of Section enforcement, the Voting Section launched the “almost 100” Section 2 investigations.  The demographer at the Voting Section identified scores of American jurisdictions – counties and towns – with substantial minority populations based primarily on census data.  No voters have complained from these newfound targets.  Names from this target list have been parceled out to various Voting Section attorneys to take a preliminary glance to see if the matter might be worth pursuing.  These inquiries almost never go beyond looking at the current make-up of the legislative body, and may not even involve an analysis under Gingles One.   That is, the “investigation” doesn’t even reach the preliminary point of whether it is even possible to draw a minority-majority district.  In an effort to puff the “investigative” numbers, these sweeping glances are assigned a “DJ” number, and thus become “investigations” for public relations purposes. 

    “Had the Bush administration used such flimsy standards for characterizing an inquiry a “Section 2 investigation,” they probably could have boasted of hundreds of Section 2 investigations.  Indeed, I personally conducted at least 100 such preliminary inquiries, except that in many instances I actually drew maps for Gingles One purposes.  The reality is that the “almost 100” Section 2 investigations currently being “conducted” by the Justice Department constitute little more than a public relations exercise designed to keep critics quiet about the absence of Section 2 enforcement.”