WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court paused a lower court’s ruling limiting who can sue under the under the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act, a move backed by civil rights groups and other advocates.
Over the objections of three conservative justices, the high court on July 24 put a ruling by the St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on hold while two Native American tribes appeal it.
If allowed to stand, the appeals court’s decision would severely undermine enforcement of the law. It said only the U.S. attorney general is authorized to sue under a key section of the law, meaning voters, Native American tribes and groups like the NAACP would be barred from doing so.
In this case, the tribes and three voters challenged a state legislative map in North Dakota they said dilutes the voting power of Native Americans.
A federal district judge agreed, but the appeals court said vote dilution claims cannot be enforced through lawsuits brought by individual voters or groups.
The Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians and the Spirit Lake Tribe called that decision a “knee-cap” to the nation’s “most important civil rights statute.”
Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act bars voting practices or procedures that discriminate on the basis of race, color or other characteristics.
In a brief supporting the tribes, the NAACP said the history of that section “has been written largely through private enforcement.”
But North Dakota’s attorney general argues Congress did not clearly intend a private enforcement right when the act became law decades ago.
The state also said the Supreme Court should keep the appeals court’s decision in effect for now to allow the 2026 elections to be conducted under the map challenged by the tribes. That map eliminated two of the three legislative districts in which Native American voters could elect their preferred candidates.
Three justices − Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch − said they would have kept the decision in place while the Supreme Court considers whether to hear the tribes’ appeal.
The appeals court’s decision affects voting rights litigation in seven states: Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota. Republican attorneys general in most of those states and a few others filed a brief backing the appeals court’s decision.
More: Supreme Court defers decision on challenge to Louisiana congressional map
The Supreme Court is still deciding how to resolve a dispute over Louisiana’s congressional districts that involves an interplay between the Voting Rights Act and a racial gerrymandering challenge.
Instead of issuing a decision, the court announced in June that it will hear new arguments in its next term.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Supreme Court pauses ruling weakening Voting Rights Act
