and mate that will pass strict scrutiny. as you know from the news and as we'll talk about in class, the voting rights act is under assault and likely the supreme court may strike down parts at least of section 5 of the voting rights act at some point in the next year. and so if the voting -- parts of the voting rights act of section 5 are unconstitutional then it might be the case that at least with section 5, you cannot say that a district that is drawn predominantly based on race passes strict scrutiny in order to comply with the voting rights act. there is an interesting case which did come out of the lower court summarily affirmed, the chicago ear muff district. so in kingers haers hav king ve court said, you know what, this is a shaw violation, this district in chicago, the fourth congressional district of

chicago which has lasted basically until this day. and so this district was drawn in order to deal with the hispanic -- the different locations of the latino and the black populations in chicago. so as you can see, the green areas, latino areas, red is african-american. in order to create ayla teen notice district they drew it going like this, down here, all the way down and around. and 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 the these groups may have had a claim under section 2 of the voting rights act, that the

drawing of a sdribldistrict lik was required. there's still the possibility you can draw districts like this. 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 district, there's a very strict rule of population equality. the court doesn't say it must be mathematically equal put you must make a good faith attempt to achieve equality. any deviations have to be justified by consistently applied legitimate state interest. 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 in order to punish your political poents and

reward your friends, that that is going to be a problem. when it comes to partisan jerry mandzerring, the court we're waiting to get an answer. they are seen as politically safe, even with lower competition. pure republican districts, pure democrat districts, that's not a problem when one party is trying to outshaft the other party that gives rise to gerry mannedering claim 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 afoul of that. as i said, just because there is no concrete partisan gerry-mannedering came the supreme court has delivered us doesn't mean disgruntled parties don't go into court. they filter them through other claims such as one person, one vote claims, section 2 of the voting rights act claims and shaw versus reno claim, right?

because the moral of the story in redistricting law is that you sort of throw everything at the court and see what sticks. in racial gerry mannedering con text there is a postmortem on shaw cases that while there was a lot of redistricting in 1990 of shaw in rounds in 2000 we saw almost none of it and that has to do with the last case i mentioned, look, you can justify districts as being safe democratic districts. now no one is going to be passing something called the max black plan, right? it's the max dem plan, max rep plan. if you can justify it on the basis of partisanship, that's one way to get out from under con traits of shaw versus reno. moreover, if it turns out the minority districts and white districts are all equally strangely shaped, then it's hard to say race freedom natuprepred the construction of the

districts. we have cases from the -- the case in texas right now where an intentional race-based dilution claim is being brought. that's still under mobile, if you try to dilute the vote of minority community. 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 can see, we've come a long way since jerry first drew his first plan, right? but the strategies that 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 gerry, gerry manneders, so when

you vote in the congressional elections, think of gerry. we'll talk about partisan gerry-mandering and then move on to the voting rights act. thank you. next week on "lectures in history, david keene, president of the nra, talks about modern conservative fill offy of william f. buckley jr. who died in 2008 was the founder of national review magazine. david keene was a guest lecturer at sit dell military college in south carolina in a course called conservative intellectual. join us each sasat 8 p.m. and midnight for classroom lectures from across the country on different topics and errors of american history. "lecture in history" are also available as podcasts. visit our website at

c-span.org/history/podcasts or download them from itunes. >> you're watching american history tv. all weekend, every weekend on c-span 3. for more information, follow us on twitter @cspanhistory. during world war ii ruth cowan nash was a reporter for associated press, she traveled overseas covering stories on the war and often attached to women's army corps. coming up next an interview with ruth cowan nash from women in journalism project. this is about 50 minutes. >> well, let me ask you first, i time you. -- you did spend overseas in e the -- during world war ii. >> you did what this is. >> i want to talk mostly about -- >> yeah, right. >> -- world war ii. how did you get the assignment to go over?

how did that come about? >> you mean the assignment to go over to -- >> to cover the war. >> well, i wasn't supposed to. wasn't supposed to work that way. i had wanted to go over to london. i was at that time stationed in washington. and i wanted to go over with mrs. roosevelt when she would make a trip flying back and forth or somebody else like that, but i would like to worked in london, i said, for a time. i wanted to be transferred. well, they difficultlly-dallied. -t and then one day they told me i would be going to london. i got things fixed around there. not supposed to tell anybody. not poefd supposed to give any information. i had one living in my apartment and taking care of anything i needed but i couldn't tell anybody i was going out of the country. especially not to london or any

cells. so, i found out that the wxes were going over there. hi been covering them for a while. rita was a good friend of mine so she gave me some breaks. she was head of the wex and said there would be a woman going over there. i said, why can't you take me along? i've been covering the wacs and if they're going over there, don't you want some coverage from london? we give over here in america great coverage to the girls that come over from england. why not -- why shouldn't we get some in reverse? so they agreed that it would be all right for me to do that. and then you want to know how robb got involved. i had good friends in new york that i used to go up and visit like that. whi whi

wily smith who was head -- universal service was another one, the hearst outfit. when he -- i would come to town, he would take me to dinner. i knew him when i was -- when he was stationed in washington covering -- as districter of the universal service. so, i looked him up. somehow or another that evening, wily encountered robb and i told what's his name -- wily smith i was going overseas. walking down the aisle i had said, gosh, i'm going to get to go overseas. she went to work right now trying to get too. and i felt -- it didn't bother me 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. one thing you had to -- well, a lot of things in details you had to do about your things when you were leaving and so on and so forth. and i was going with wacs definitely. i needed to get a uniform. they gave me a wacs uniform and then i had one tailor made but i couldn't have any insignia on it. i went through all north africa with that. when i got to england, i got -- those people looked at me a little oddly, so i just went into the ap bureau and said, listen, i'm not going around wearing an american uniform or anybody else's uniform without some insigniinsignia. so they did. they got me things with arms and neck. >> why did they put you in a uniform?

>> oh, you couldn't be -- they had a different way handling correspondents now than then. then it was a different thing. you were -- you had status with the military service. and you weren't a member of the thing but nevertheless brought in that way and subject to their rules and regulations. if they wanted to move the unit out, they moved you along with the unit, you see. so, you were always hunting for a place to affiliate with the military service so you could get taken places like this, that and the other. that was probably one of the reasons i wanted to see patton, i wanted to have a look what he was doing up there. >> who had to approve you going with the wacs beside avita -- >> well, the ap had to approve. i came in, i remember telling them that i had this chance to do it and i would go with the wacs.

you are to be frank with immediate bosses like that. they agreed it was a good idea. nobody ever said anything. i just vanished from the scene. >> so, you took care of details and went with the wacs -- >> uh-huh. i went up in new jersey. and we thought we were all going to north africa at first. i mean, we all thought we were going to london at first. someone said i couldn't take my winter clothes with me. they said you don't need a lot of your civilian things. you'll have a military uniform. well, that was okay with me. so, we were more or less attached, put it that way, to the wac unit, inez and myself. >> assimilated rank of major. assimilated -- >> yeah we got an assimilated

rank. and then we went -- well, we stayed up there and -- in new jersey, i believe it was. for a week or ten days or something like that until they get ready to ship us. well, we were all set and ready to go to london. we got out and we got out in the middle of the atlantic or something like that and somebody who had been on -- back and forth that way said, this isn't the way to london. even i can recognize that down here in the atlantic. i hadn't gotten that far and i was just delighted. so, we went on. and landed at algers. the first night they had -- a

what-madoodle overhead. it was very noisy and stayed at the hotel down there and -- and -- as everybody knew and thought it was funny on the day but i don't think it was funny. and ed gallagher didn't think it was funny. he said, i don't want any women in my unit. send them back. ship's going that way the next day, put them on it. inez got the support from her outfit. she didn't have the trouble i had. it's all funny now. wes gallagher and i are good friends. he's made some recommendations for me. he was later head of the ap. and so -- i lost what i was telling. >> you wes gallagher was the head of the unit. >> yeah, he was head and he wanted to send me back. i fought and i said no. so, he wouldn't give me an assignment or anything like that to do. that was all right. i knew how to figure out my own assignments so 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. and i said, what who you suggest i try to do today? so, they would give me some suggestions and i would do it. and i'd send -- i'd bring them in and file them with the ap and also i would tell the military i had filed -- somehow or another 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 algers? do you have any particular memories of favorite stories you covered? >> well, i covered -- algiers, you mean when i first got there? what? [ inaudible ] >> well, yes, i went -- well, one thing i can remember is in alge algers. i got with a unit that was going

up to the front in algers and i got up there. and that was the one where we had to retreat and had to beat it back to algers. and they turned us around up there. i was with several officers. we commanded a car and drove -- they drove back. you're limited when you're covering actual action. it has to wait until it cools off so enemy can't specify where you were and 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 this one -- when this story gets back to the united states, they'll be very proud of so and so. well, that story went in the waste paper basket as fast as i

got it there because that told where the units were. so, you were handicapped. i learned if i waited a few weeks, i could write about what happened up there when the enemy had found out we had been there and so on and so forth. whether we had won or been kicked back. but then as i started to say, i made progress to go back to london. and found some stories on rivera that were very interesting to bright about. and made some good friends in the rivera. they invited me in their home and all that sort of thing. i could see how things changed there, americans still. and i just found -- got hotel accommodations. it wasn't difficult. you just went into a hotel and somehow or another you said i'd like to have a room, please, and i'd like to have some meals attached to the room and you got it.

the wars were very different from peace time stuff. along the riviera. then i finally got ordered formally off to paris. i went up to paris. i stopped in rome on the way. i had to see rome. then from rome on up, worked my way from paris. they were very glad to see me. and said, oh, we have a lot of stories for you to do. i said, yes, you probably want to know what the latest fashions are war time. i so went to see the latest fashions and i got along very well. as things got a little more tension, i went back to london for just a little while.

they didn't know what to do with me. so just as the war was getting involved to the place where you knew there was an invasion coming, and covered that as far as i could. telling them what was going -- might happen and so forth. and then i was sent down, and i was very close friends with the wacs. i stayed close with them all the time. we had the same hotel, same accommodations. and same ability orders. and then i was sent -- the guy

on the desk at ap in london said, how would you like to go to the south part of england. i said, i don't think i've been down there. he says, we'll send you down. i went down to london -- down from -- 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 somebody decided that i was a little questionable and they all looked me over. and reported it into the headquarters of this unit that i was going to travel with. and two of the top people in the wacs came down and we all met in some general's office, i don't remember who, and they all knew me and said, no, she's all right. she was a general. somebody faked sending me pip never found out who did it or what but they got that cleared up.

so, we all said good-bye in the sea of france or something like that. we go a trip on a medical unit to pick up some wounded on the plane. we went over and landed on the shore someplace and they loaded up and i came back. and then i guess i did all right on that and thought that was -- gave me a chance to go. so, i got assigned to a unit that was going over. we went on a ship over. it wasn't very exciting. we whirled around a few times and took off and went over to france. parked out there until they could unload. and then got on the beach. that was a little noisy. they tried -- they worked to get people on the beach and up as

quick as they could. and that was -- i was with a unit they pushed up. i ran out of face powder, too. i had a rough time. >> well, it sounds like you were pretty much on your own in terms of determining -- >> i was very much on my own but i always made it a point to tell the commanding officer whatever unit i was assigned to or whatever unit i asked if i could join. no, i never pulled any rank or got any -- tried to get by on any 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 out 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 were going to release -- some publicity they would send around to various units, newspaper units and magazine units, but any -- how much they could get some publicity back home in the united states. there was something else i wanted to tell you. i can't think of it right now. shows i had to keep quiet. >> how did you get along with the other journalists? >> there were no other girls except when carpenter and i went. 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 -- well n londoin lon course, was a different story. just like being at home. on going over, after i got over to france and that sort of thing, bumming around, and the gal that was with me, inez carpenter, part of the time, we separated and went on different units and that sort of thing. and i knew the nurses. they had a point of getting acquainted with any -- 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 a done over wac uniform and pretty dirty. i had two.

but it didn't have any insignia until i finally blew my stack and said, put something on me. somebody will arrest me some day and i'll get shot. >> what about the men journalists? >> huh? >> did you -- >> oh, the men were just -- it was different in that day. of course, we are not war, you know. when we go to war, the men correspondents, both writers and photographers, will be put in uniform and you're under a certain control. you can't roam around. are you to get clearance. it wasn't hard. >> when you were in algers, going back a little bit, that's when you covered patton, at the cassarene pass, at that retreat? >> i heard there was some action going on up there. of course, he went sometimes by plane and sometimes by -- you

managed to get a place in a group of soldiers that were moving up and that sort of thing. 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 -- so that you could see pretty well what was going you didn't want to be too high because they would shoot you do down. there was so much traffic going back this way when they should have been going this way. troops that were successful would go that way. here, they were coming back. so, i began asking questions. and i ran on to patton up in there with several other officers. and i came up and i said, what's the trouble?

i guess we're going the wrong way. some remark like that. so, i figured i better get myself back to algers myself, which i did. >> because patton had been -- i understood patton had been too busy to see the reporters? >> well, he was. he was out on the field. i was the only reporter. i was with some other group, of course, and just -- well, you know, some of the other military officers that were up for different jobs without necessarily commanding a unit. i was with one of those groups. we ewent up to them and patton couldn't do much else than talk to me. i think i was so confused by the fact that i was up there. so, that was nothing. i knew patton after that time. we 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 were there. >> well, one -- i found out very early in the business that if i

got in touch with organizations like hospitals and medical units and that, that i had a good chance of staying there. but if i went and wanted to get involved with a military unit, no, they didn't want any of that. that wasn't a good enough shot for that, i guess. and also they didn't want women getting mixed in with the units if at all possible. so, i just let them do the fighting. i went around and tried to write the interesting side lights of the war. i started to tell you something about -- what was it we were talking about? >> the harvard hospital unit. >> oh, the harvard hospital unit. i and had -- oh, i remember now. i had made contact with a great many hospitals and field units.