Mark Posner

As a Senior Counsel in the Voting Rights Project, Mark Posner is responsible for addressing issues relating to the enforcement of the Voting Rights Act and the National Voter Registration Act. Currently, he is counsel in litigation filed under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act (the statute's preclearance provision) against the Georgia secretary of state, and in lawsuits filed under the National Voter Registration Act against state officials in Indiana and New Mexico. He also is involved in other efforts to promote compliance with these statutes.

Prior to joining the Lawyers' Committee, Mr. Posner served in the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division for 23 years, including 15 years in the Division's Voting Section. In the Voting Section, he helped manage the Department's reviews of voting changes submitted for preclearance under Section 5, and served as the Department's Special Section 5 Counsel from 1992 to 1995. He also successfully litigated suits concerning the State of Georgia's post-1980 congressional redistricting plan and the City of Chicago's post-1980 councilmanic redistricting plan. After leaving the Voting Section, he was one of the founding members of the Department's police misconduct task force, and negotiated settlements with major law enforcement agencies to resolve "pattern or practice" civil lawsuits filed by the Justice Department.

Mr. Posner is the author of two law review articles and one book chapter regarding Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. These include: a law review article defending the constitutionality of Congress' 2006 reauthorization of Section 5, in 10 N.Y. U. Journal of Legislation & Public Policy 51 (2006); an article analyzing the history of the Justice Department's implementation of Section 5, in 1 Duke Journal of Constitutional Law & Public Policy 120 (2006); and a book chapter discussing the Department's preclearance reviews of post-1990 redistricting plans, in Race and Redistrictings in the 1990s (Bernard Grofman ed. 1998). He also has served as an adjunct professor of law at the University of Maryland School of Law and the American University's Washington College of Law.

Mr. Posner received his law degree from U.C. Berkeley School of Law in 1978, and his undergraduate degree from U.C. Santa Cruz in 1974.