- Email:
- lfr@iu.edu
- Phone:
- (812) 855-5003
- Location:
- Baier Hall 344
Education
- University of Michigan B.A. 1989
- University of Michigan J.D. 1997
- University of Michigan Ph.D. 2001
- Georgetown University School of Law LL.M. 2002
Courses
Background
- Recorder, Ethics 2000 Committee of the Indiana State Bar Association
- Chair, Indiana University Latino Faculty and Staff Council
- Fellow, Georgetown University Law Center
Biography
Professor Fuentes-Rohwer is the associate dean for research and faculty affairs, a professor of law, and Class of 1950 Herman B Wells Endowed Professor at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law, where he teaches and writes in the areas of civil rights and legal history, with a particular emphasis on constitutional law and the Reconstruction Era. His scholarship focuses on the intersection of race and democratic theory, as reflected in the law of democracy in general and the Voting Rights Act in particular. He is interested in the way that institutions—and especially courts—are asked to craft and implement the ground rules of American politics. He received a J.D. and a Ph.D from the University of Michigan and an LL.M. from Georgetown. He joined the faculty in 2002.
In the Media
- Quoted in "Hoosiers react to President Donald Trump's executive order ending birthright citizenship," WTHR News (1/25/2025)
- Quoted in "Students navigate voting rights during 'Does My Vote Count? Voting in the U.S. Territories' event," Indiana Daily Students (9/30/2024)
- Quoted in "Cost of Anderson redistricting fight at $150,000 and climbing," WXIN News (9/9/2024)
- Quoted in "Voting challenges persist for Indiana residents," The Indiana Lawyer (7/31/2024)
- Mentioned in "New Video Casebook with All Star Cast Teaches About Key Election Law Cases," Election Law Blog (5/31/2024)
- Quoted in "Reexamining the Insular Cases. Again.," Harvard Law Bulletin (5/5/2024)
- Mentioned in "The Case for Proportional Representation," Election Law Blog (9/13/2023)
- Quoted in "Voting rights advocates welcomed a Supreme Court win. But the fight isn't over," NPR (6/18/2023)
- Quoted in "If Democrats Win Back the House, They Will Have John Roberts to Thank," New York Times (6/14/2023)
- Appeared on "The Supreme Court is discussing the removal of race-based admissions in schools," Indiana Public Media (11/9/2022)
- Quoted in "Supreme Court rulings to look out for this term," Indiana Daily Student (11/7/2022)
- Quoted in "Indiana GOP Elections Chief Candidate Faces Fraud Questions," AP News (11/3/2022)
- Quoted in "Briggs: Republican running on ‘election integrity’ might have voted illegally," IndyStar (11/3/2022)
- Quoted in "Voting rights are still a battleground in Indiana," Evansville Courier & Press (8/23/2022)
Selected works
- Judicial Intervention as Judicial Restraint (with Guy-Uriel E. Charles), 131 HARVARD LAW REVIEW 236 (2018).
- Race and Representation Revisited: The New Racial Gerrymandering Cases and Section 2 of the VRA (with Guy-Uriel E. Charles), 59 WILLIAM AND MARY LAW REVIEW 1559 (2018).
- Taking Judicial Legitimacy Seriously, 93 CHICAGO-KENT LAW REVIEW 505 (2018).
- Who's Afraid of the Hated Political Gerrymander?, 104 KENTUCKY LAW JOURNAL 561 (2015/16).
- Race, Federalism, and Voting Rights (with Guy-Uriel E. Charles), 2015 UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO LEGAL FORUM 113.
- Race, Federalism, and Voting Rights, 2015 Chicago Legal Forum 113 (with Guy Charles) (symposium issue)
- The VRA in Winter: The Death of a Superstatute, 100 Iowa Law Review 1389 (2015) (with Guy Charles)
- Habermas, the Public Sphere, and the Creation of a Racial Counterpublic, 20 Mich. J. Race & L. 1 (2015 (with Guy Charles)
- State’s Rights, Last Rites, and Voting Rights, 47 Conn. L. Rev. 481 (2014) (with Guy Charles)
- The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson, in A Guide to Reconstruction Presidents, 1865-1881 (Ted Frantz ed., 2014)
- The Future of Civil Rights Laws, in The New Face of Race in America: Beyond Post-Racialism and Entrenched Inequality (Guy Charles & Kenneth Mack eds., 2013)
- Mapping a Post-Shelby County Contingency Strategy, 123 Yale L.J. Online 131 (2013) (with Guy Charles)
- Is This the Beginning of the End of the Second Reconstruction?, 59-JUN Fed. Law. 54 (2012)
- Justice Kennedy to the Rescue?, 160 U. Pa. L. Rev. PENNumbra 209 (2012)
- Looking for a Few Good Philosopher Kings: Political Gerrymandering as a Question of Institutional Competence, 43 Conn. L. Rev. 1157 (2011) (symposium issue)
- Judicial Activism and the Interpretation of the Voting Rights Act, 32 Cardozo Law Review 857 (2010) (symposium issue)
- The Future of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act in the Hands of a Conservative Court, DUKE JOURNAL OF CONSTITUTIONAL LAW & PUBLIC POLICY (2010).
- Leaving the Thicket at Last? (with Laura Jane Durfee), 2009 MICHIGAN STATE LAW REVIEW 417 (2009).
- Understanding the Paradoxical Case of the Voting Rights Act, 36 FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW 697 (2009).
- Back to the Beginning: An Essay on the Court, the Law of Democracy, and Trust, 43 WAKE FOREST LAW REVIEW 1045 (2008)
- Bringing Democracy to Puerto Rico: A Rejoinder, HARVARD LATINO LAW REVIEW (2008)
- Citizenship in the Age of Empire, INDIANA LAW JOURNAL (2008)
- Racial Bloc Voting and Direct Democracy, CALIFORNIA LAW REVIEW (2008) (with Guy Charles)
- The Politics of Preclearance, 13 Michigan Journal of Race and Law 513 (2007) (with Guy Charles)
- Legislative Findings, Congressional Powers, and the Future of the Voting Rights Act, 82 INDIANA LAW JOURNAL 100 (2007)
- On the Renewal of Section 5 of the VRA: Why Congress Failed Voters of Color, in MAKING EVERY VOTE COUNT: FEDERAL ELECTION LEGISLATION IN THE STATES (Andrew Rachlin ed.) (Princeton University 2006) (with Guy Charles)
- Rethinking Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, in THE FUTURE OF THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT (Epstein et al., eds., 2006) (with Guy Charles)
- Reconsidering the Law of Democracy: Political Questions, Prudence and the Judicial Role, 47 WILLIAM AND MARY LAW REVIEW 1899 (2006).
- Preclearance, Discrimination, and the Department of Justice: The Case of South Carolina, 57 South Carolina Law Review 827 (with Guy Charles) (2006)
Areas of expertise
- Civil rights
- Election law