maybe that's going to pass strict scrutiny. but as you know from the news and as we'll talk about in class, the voting rights act is under assault and it's likely the supreme court may strike down parts, at least, of section five in the voting rights act at some point in the next year. if parts of the voting rights act such as section five are unconstitutional, it might be in the case at least with section five you cannot say that a district that is drawn precodoc come lently based on race passes strict scrutiny to comply with the voting rights act. there is an interesting case that did come out of lower court which was affirmed by the district court, and that is the famous case of the chicago e earmuff district. okay? and so in king versus illinois, the court actually said, you know what, this is a shaw violation. the fourth congressional district of chicago.

which has lasted until basically this day. and this district was drawn in order to deal with the hispanic -- the different locations of the latino and the black populations in chicago. and so as you can see, the green areas are latino areas. the red areas are african-american. and so in order to create a latino district, they drew it going like this, down here, all the way down and around. okay? and the latino district they said was justified because if you were to draw a district that went in a circle, like this, then that would violate the voting rights act because african-americans wouldn't be able to elect their candidate of choice maybe. and that it was because each of these groups may have had a claim under section two of the voting rights act that the

drawing of a district like this was required and was narrowly tailored to avoid a voting rights violation. there's still the possibility you can draw districts like this. all right. so here's where we are. when it comes to one person, one vote, we have different rules depending on what types of districts we're talking about. if we're talking about congressional districts, there's a very strict rule of population equality. court doesn't say that it must be mathematically equal. you must make a good faith attempt to achieve equality, and any deviations have to be justified by consistently applied legitimate state interests. now, there's a more lenient standard for noncongressional districts especially if the total deviation in the plan is under 10%. but the lawyers versus cox case tells you that if you have selectively malapportioned that

that is going to be a problem. when it comes to partisan gerrymanderi gerrymandering, we're waiting to get an answer from the court. bipartisan jerry mandiers are considered politically safe. when one party is trying to get the out party, though, that does give rise to a potentially partisan gerrymandering claim, at least as long as justice kennedy is still contemplating what the standard might be. all right? maybe this redistricting cycle he'll find one that runs -- but as i said, just because there is no concrete partisan gerrymandering claim the supreme court has delivered us doesn't mean that disgruntled partisans don't go into court. they filter their partisan claims through other claims such as one person, one vote claims, section two of the voting acts

claim. the moral of the story in redistricting law is you sort of throw everything at the court and see what sticks. and so in the racial gerrymandering context, there is a post-mortem on the shaw cases, which is that while there was a lot of redistricting litigation in the 1990s under shaw, in the 2000 round of redistricting we saw almost none of it. and that has to do with the fact that that last case i talked about, where they said, look, you can justify the districts as being safe democratic districts. now no one's going to be passing something called the max black plan. it's the max dem plan or something like that. max rep plan. if you justify it on the basis of partisanship, well then that's one way to get out from under the constraints of shaw versus reno. moreover, if it turns out the minority districts and the white districts are all equally strangely shaped, then it's hard to say that race predominated in the construction of the minority districts. but it is still the case, and we

have actually cases from the case in texas right now where an intentional race-based vote dilution vote is being bought. and shaw versus reno is still on the books. so in the event minority districts are extremely strangely shaped, and you have violated traditional districting principles in the drawing of these districts, and you can't justify them by appealing to the voting rights act, then it's possible that those districts, those individual districts, will violate the 14th amendment. so as you an see, we've come a long way since jerry first drew his plan. the strategy incumbents have been pursuing over these 200 years, and i should say it's an appropriate time for you to be taking this course, because it is the 200th anniversary of the

successful gerrymander. this fall when you vote in the elections, think of it. next time we'll talk about partisan gerrymandering and move on to the voting rights act. thank you. next week on "lectures in history" david keene, president of national rifle association talks about the modern conservative political philosophy of william f. buckley jr. mr. buckley who died in 2008 was founder of "national review" magazine. david keene was a guest lecturer at the citadel college in charleston, south carolina. in a course called the conservative intellectual tradition in america taught by professor mallory factor. join us each saturday at 8:00 p.m. and midnight eastern and sundays at 1:00 p.m. for classroom lectures from across the country on different topics and eras of american history. lectures in history are also available as podcasts. visit our website at

c-span.org/history/podcasts. or download them from itunes. during world war ii ruth cowan nash worked as a reporter for "the associated press." she traveled overseas to africa and europe covering stories on the war and was often attached to the women's army corps. coming up next, an interview with ruth cowan nash from the women in journalism promject. this is about 50 minutes. >> let me ask you first, i want to concentrate on the time you did spend overseas during world war ii. >> you did what? >> i want to talk mostly about world war ii. >> right. >> how tdid you get the assignment to go over? how did that come about? >> you mean get the assignment to go over to -- >> cover the war. >> well, i wasn't supposed to. it wasn't that way. but this was -- i had wanted to go over to london.

i was at that time stationed in washington. and i wanted to go to over when she was making a trip flying back and forth or somebody else like that. i would like to work in london, i said, for "time." i wanted to be transferred. they dilly dallied with it. one day they told me assignments had been set up and i would be going to london. so i got things fixed around there, and not supposed to tell anybody, not supposed to give any information. well, i had arranged to have someone living in my apartment and taking care of anything that i needed. but i tell anybody that i waout of the country. and especially not to london or any place else. so i found out that the -- i had been covering them from the very beginning. veta was a good friend of mine. and so she gave me some breaks.

she was head. she said there was a unit going over there. i said, why can't you take me along? i've been covering themes and, you're going over there, don't you want coverage from london? we give over in america good coverage to the girls who come over from england. why shouldn't we get some in reverse? so they agreed that it would be all right for me to do that. then you want to now how rob got involved in the things? well, i had some very good friends in new york that i used to go up and visit like that. wiley smith, who was head of one of the units, universal service, and there was another one. and when he -- i would only to town, he would take me to dinner. i knew him when he was stationed

in washington covering, or as director of the universal service. and so i looked him up. and somehow or other that evening we encountered on esrob. i had told what's his name, wiley smith, that i was going overseas. in a way, walking down the aisle, i said, gosh, i'm going to get to go overseas. well, she just went to work right now trying to get -- i felt -- it didn't bother me that there would be another woman in the thing or anything like that. whether i would go alone or she would be with me or anything else. so we sort of joined forces to get this thing, this ball rolling. the one thing you had to -- a lot of things, details you had to do about things join were leaving and so on and so forth.

and then i had to get -- i was going definitely. so i had to get a uniform. well, they gave me one uniform all right to wear over there then i had one tailor made but i couldn't have any insignia on it. and i went through all of north africa with that. when i got to england, i got -- i noticed people looked at me a little oddly. so i just went into the "ap" bureau and said, i'm not going around wearing american uniform or anybody else's uniform without incig knsig nenia on it. they got me something for the neck, the arms. >> why did they put you in uniform? >> oh, you couldn't be -- you wouldn't be -- well, they had a different way of handling the correspondents now than they had then. then it was a different thing. you were, you had the status

with the military service. and you -- you weren't a member of the thing, but you were nevertheless brought in that way and you were subject to their rules and regulations. if they wanted to move the unit out, they moved you along with the unit, you see. and so you were always hunting for a place to affiliate with the military service so that you could get taken places like this, that and the other. that was froeprobably one of th reasons, i wanted to get upfront and see what he was doing up there. >> who had to approve your going? who else had to approve it? >> well, the "ap" had to approve. the "ap" approved. i came in, i remember telling them i had this chance to do it and i'd go with. i was absolutely frank. you are to be frank with the media bosses like that. they agreed to it, it was a good idea. nobody ever said anything. i just vanished from the scene.

>> so you took care of the -- >> i went to -- up in new jersey. and we thought we were all going to north africa first. i mean, we all thought we were going first. somebody came along and told me that i couldn't take my winter clothes with me. all the winter clothes i had. they said, you won't need them. they said, you're not going to need a lot of your own civilian things. you'll have a military uniform and that's all right. it was okay with me. we were more or less attached. >> assimilated rank -- >> yeah, we got an assimilated rank. we stayed up there in new jersey, i believe it was.

one of those places. it will show in my records. we were all set and ready to go to london. and we got out and we got out in the middle of the atlantic or something like that and somebody looked back and forth that way, said this isn't the way to london. even i can recognize out here in the atlantic. so we said, no, we were not going there. then we were told, we were going to africa. starting in africa. i'd gotten that far. i was just delighted. so we went on and landed at algiers. and first night they had a whatty-ma-doodle overhead. it was very noisy. and stayed at the hotel down there. as everybody knew, and thought it was very funny, but i didn't

think it the least funny and i didn't think gallagher thought it was funny. he said, i don't want any women attached to my island, said, send them back. the ship's going back next day, put them on. so rob, got support from her outfit. she didn't have the trouble that i had. and of course it's allunny now. and wes gallagher and i are good friends. he's made some recommendations for me. he was later head of the "ap." so, let's see, i lost what i was telling you. >> wes gallagher was the head of the -- >> he was head. he wanted to send me back. i fought, i said no. so he wouldn't give me an assignment. you see? or anything like that. that was all right. i knew how to figure out my own assignments. i went around interviewing this person and i found who was in charge of publicity for the army. and the other branches of the military service. suggest i try to do today? and so they would give me some

suggestions, and i would do it. and i'd bring them in and file them with the "ap" and also i would tell the military that i had filed somehow or other, a lot of that stuff got back home. so they seemed to be pretty well pleased with me. >> what stories do you remember covering when you were in algiers? do you have any particular memories of the favorite stories that you offed? >> well, i covered -- algiers, you mean when i first got there? let's see what i can think of. i covered -- what? well, yes, i went -- well, one thing that i can remember is in algiers i got with a unit that was going up to the front in algiers. and i got up there. and that was the one where we had the al officers. we commanded the car.

then i got stories about food and that sort of thing. but you're very limited when you're covering stories when you're in actual action. it has to wait until it cools off so the enemy can't specify where you were or what you were up to. and i think it was -- and i had a good deal of difficulty getting specific names of people. i'd interview them and think when this story gets back to the united states, the family will be proud of so-and-so. that paper went in the waste paper basket as soon as they could put it there because that you were handicapped. i learned if you waited a few weeks i would write about what happened up there when the enemy found out we had been there and so on and so orforth.

whether we had won or been kicked back. then, as i started to say, made progress to go back to london and found some stories on the riviera that were very interesting to write about. and made some good friends on the riviera. and they invited me into their homes and all that sort of thing. i could see how things changed there, and there were americans there still. and then i just found, got hotel accommodations. you went into a hotel, said, i'd like to have a room, please, and i'd like to have meals s attac to the room and i got it. war is very different from peacetime stuff. i stayed in several places along the riviera and then finally i got ordered formally off to

paris and i went up to paris and i stopped in rome on the way. i had to see rome. and then from rome on up, worked my way and got into paris. and they were very glad to see me. and said, oh, we have a lot of stories for you to do. i said, yes, i especially want to know what the latest fashions are. so i did, went to see what happened with them in the fashion industries. and i got along were well in that. then finally as things got a little more tense, i went back to london for just a little while. and then -- it seemed like just a little while, but i did a lot of covering in and out of various towns in england, scotland, and so forth. as i said, they gave me so much freeway. they didn't know what to do with me, to tell you.

that was the answer. and so then just as the war was getting involved, the place where you knew there was an invasion coming, and coverage of that as far as i could, telling them what might happen and so forth. and then i was sent down -- and i'm very close friends. i stayed close with them all the time. and we had the same hotels, same accommodations. and same building orders. and then i was sent -- guy on the desk at the "ap" in london said, how would you like to go to the south part of london? i don't think i've been down there. he said, all right, we'll send you down. i went down to the southern part

of england and found that i was mixed up in a unit that was going to go overseas very shortly. well, that was fun. that was exactly what i wanted. and then somebody decided that i was a little questionable and they all looked me over. and reported it in to the headquarters of this unit that i was going to travel with. and two of the top people came down and we all met in some general's office. i don't remember who. and they all knew me. they said, no, she's all right, she's a general object. somebody had faked themselves -- i never did find out who did it or what, but they got that cleared up. so we all said good-bye, and they said, see you in france or something like that. and so i made one trip over with the military -- with the medical unit to pick up some wounded on

the plane. so we went over, landed along the shore or someplace or another, and they loaded up again and i came back. then i guess i did all right on that and i thought that was -- give me a chance to go. so i got assigned to a unit that was going over. and we went on a ship over. and it wasn't very exciting. it was just -- we whirled around a few times and took off and went over to france. i was parked out there until they could unload and then got on the beach and that was a little noisy. and they tried -- they worked to get people on the beach and up as quick as they could. and that was -- i was with the unit that they pushed up. i was dirty, too. and i ran out of face powder and everything. i had a rough time.

>> well, it sounds like that you were pretty much on your own in terms of determining how much -- >> i was very much on terms of my own. i always made it a point to tell the commanding officer of whatever unit i was assigned to or whatever unit i asked if i could join. or that sort of thing. no, i never pulled any rank or got any -- tried to get by on a rule or regulation. i immediately went to the headquarters and reported myself in. >> and within the "ap" did you report then to whoever the bureau chief was for the sector you were in? >> oh, yes, i would. but i found -- what i was doing when i was working so much on my own is that i was checking in with the military finding out what stories they had that they were maybe going to release in public in some publicity that

they would send around to the various units, newspaper units and magazine units. anies oy s ouies outlet in whicd get some publicity back home in the united states. there was something i want to tell you then. i got off the track. i can't think of it right now. it shows that i had some things that i had to keep quiet. >> how did you get along with the other journalists? >> there were no other girls at that particular time except when i was -- carpenter and i went. and there was some girls in london, some that i knew who had gone over to england, one or two that had married and gone over. and those -- in london, of course, it was a different story. that was just like being home,

as it were. going over, i mean, after i got over to france and that sort of thing, bumming around, and this other girl that was with me i was covering for part of the time, we separated and went on different units and that sort of thing. and i knew the nurses. i made a point of getting acquainted with any women units that were around. and you see, the british had women in uniform. military uniform. well, i was -- the uniform i was wearing was pretty dirty. i had two. and -- but it didn't have any insignia until i finally moved my stack and said, put something on me, somebody will arrest me someday and i'll get shot. >> what about the men journalists? >> huh?

oh, the men were dressed up. it was different in that day. we were at war, you see. maybe when we go to war, the men corresponde correspondents, both the writers and photographers will be put in uniform, and you're under a certain control. you don't go roaming around as freely. you have to go and get clearance to go. it was never hard to get. wherever i wanted to go, i found i could get there. >> you were in algiers, going back just a little bit. that's when you covered patton at the pass during that retreat. >> well, i heard there was some action going on up there. and, of course, you went sometimes by plane and sometimes by -- managed to get a place, a group of soldiers that were moving up and that sort of thing. and so i wanted to find out what was going on. wherever i heard there was something happening, i wanted to try to get there.

so i went up and on the way up there, we were in the plane and the plane came down low enough so that you could see pretty well what was going on on the ground. you didn't want to be too high up because they'd shoot you down. and saw that there'strfic goingn it should be going that way. troops that were on the -- were successful, would go that way. coming back. so, again, asking questions. and i ran on up there with several other officers and i came up, i said, what'sand sai wrong way. some remark like that. i don't know what it was at. so i figured i better get myself back to algiers, myself. which i did. >> because patton -- i understood patton had been too busy to see the reporters. >> well, he had, but he was out on the field. and i was the only reporter.

i was with some other of course. and just, well, you know, some of the other military officers that were up on various jobs without necessarily commanding the unit. and i was with one of those groups. we went up toh ee than talk to me. and i think he was so confused by the fact i was up there. so that was nothing. i knew patton after that time. i used to say hello and all that sort of thing. >> tell me about the harvard hospital unit. the unit you went to in france when you -- >> well, one -- i found out very early in the business that if i got in touch with organizations like hospitals, medical units and that, that i had a good chance of staying there. but if i went and then wanted to get involved with a military

unit, they didn't want any of that. i wasn't a good enough shot for that, i guess. also they didn't want women getting mixed in with the men units, if at all possible. and so i just let them go do the fighting and i went around and tried to write the interesting sidelines of the war. and i started to tell you something about -- what was it we were talking about? >> the harvard hospital unit? >> oh, the harvard hospital unit. i had made -- i know now. i had made contact with a great many of the hospitals and field units because i was always accepted there. the nurses were there for one thing. they were used to the fact there are women in this world. and that they can have a part in the war, too. an