The Supreme Court has intervened in a Voting Rights Act case brought by Native American tribes, instructing a lower court to revisit its decision after the high court recently weakened the Civil Rights-era law.
Background of the Case
On Monday, the justices ordered the lower court to reexamine a ruling that went against the tribes and undermined a key enforcement mechanism: lawsuits filed by voters and advocacy groups. These groups are crucial as they initiate most litigation under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.
The case originated in North Dakota, where two Native American tribes challenged a state voting map. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that only the federal government has the authority to sue under Section 2, a decision that contradicted decades of legal precedent. In July, the Supreme Court temporarily blocked the appeals court's ruling, allowing the tribes' preferred maps to remain in effect.
Impact and Dissent
The 8th Circuit's finding has been cited elsewhere, including in Mississippi, where a similar argument was made in another appeal over state legislative maps. The Supreme Court also sent that case back for reconsideration on Monday.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented from the decision, arguing that both rulings should have been overturned. The conservative majority has already diluted enforcement power with an April decision that struck down a majority Black congressional district in Louisiana, making future cases significantly harder to win. In that case, the Court ruled that the district relied too heavily on race, effectively limiting Voting Rights claims to maps intentionally designed to discriminate—a very high standard to meet.
The ongoing legal battles underscore the continuing struggle over voting rights and the interpretation of the Voting Rights Act in the United States.
