Speakers
Allen Chaney
ACLU of South Carolina Legal Director
Allen Chaney is the Legal Director at the ACLU of South Carolina. Serving in that role since July of 2021, Allen is responsible for developing and executing the organization’s legal advocacy on a host of civil rights and civil liberties issues, including voting rights, racial justice, juvenile justice, government transparency, freedom of speech, and LGBTQ+ rights. He is regularly invited to teach continuing legal education courses about civil rights litigation and is frequently consulted by state and national media to comment on the pressing civil rights issues of the day.
Allen started his career as a deputy public defender in Colorado but is now well versed in voting rights and redistricting litigation. Allen represented the plaintiffs in S.C. State Conf. of the NAACP v. Alexander, a federal racial gerrymandering lawsuit challenging the reapportionment of South Carolina’s 7 congressional districts and its 126 State House districts. Both claims were successful in the trial court, but the congressional claim was later reversed in a 6-3 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in Alexander v. S.C. State Conf. of the NAACP, 602 U.S. 1 (2024).
In a case filed only days after the federal lawsuit ended, Allen now represents the plaintiff in League of Women Voters of S.C. v. Alexander, a lawsuit alleging that the state’s congressional redistricting plan is an unlawful partisan gerrymander in violation of the state’s “free and open elections” clause. That case is currently pending before the South Carolina Supreme Court and raises a question of first impression for the Court.
Larry Weeden
Texas Southern University Professor of Law
Larry Weeden is a Professor of Law at Texas Southern University. He obtained his B.A. in Journalism and Political Science and his J.D. From the University of Mississippi. He has several publications including topics of gerrymandering, equal voting rights, civil rights, and more.
Ahmed Soussi
Southern Poverty Law Center Senior Staff Attorney
Ahmed Soussi is a Senior Staff Attorney at the Southern Poverty Law Center, where he defends voting rights in Louisiana and Mississippi. He graduated from LSU Law in 2018. He also was awarded the Louisiana Bar Foundation Law Student Pro Bono Award in 2018, and he won the 2018 Dean’s Cup Moot Court Competition.
Nathan Maxwell
Ballotpedia Staff Writer
Nathan Maxwell is a staff writer for Ballotpedia. He graduated from Ball State University with a B.S. and master’s in political science.
Maxine Crump
Dialogue on Race Louisiana CEO
Maxine Crump is the CEO of Dialogue on Race Louisiana. She attended LSU, where she became the first African American to live in women’s housing. Her career includes working in news, public relations, and media development. She worked as the first woman DJ in Baton Rouge at WXOK AM, the first Black DJ at WFMF FM radio, and later as the first Black TV reporter at WAFB-TV, BET-TV Network News.
Her volunteer leadership on the YWCA Board of Directors, where she participated in the national YWCA racial justice training program led to her development of The Dialogue on Race Original Series program. This DOR program ultimately leads to the development of the Dialogue on Race Louisiana organization with Maxine Crump as President/CEO. She has won numerous awards for her work to eliminate racism.
She delivered a TEDxLSU talk in 2015, entitled “Why not talk about race?” She received more than a dozen awards from various organizations honoring her for her work around race. Most recently, she received the Baton Rouge Area Foundation Barton Award for Excellence in Non-Profit Management Award and Baton Rouge Business Report named her one of the top 500 most powerful and influential leaders in the Capitol Region.
John L. Weimer
Louisiana Supreme Court Chief Justice
Chief Justice Weimer became the 26th Chief Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court on January 1, 2021. He began his service on the Supreme Court in 2001 as an Associate Justice. Prior to that, he was elected to serve on the First Circuit Court of Appeal. He was born and raised in Lafourche Parish and earned his undergraduate degree from Nicholls State University. He received his J.D. from LSU Law in 1980.
