Supreme Court sends closely watched Native American voting rights decision back to lower court
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court took action Monday in a Voting Rights Act lawsuit filed by Native American tribes, saying a closely watched decision should be reconsidered after the high court weakened a Civil Rights-era law.
Judges order lower courts to reconsider decision This has disadvantaged tribes and undermined an important enforcement mechanism: lawsuits from voters and advocacy groups.
Advocacy groups are key players because they file most of the lawsuits filed under provisions of the Voting Rights Act, known as Section 2.
But in a lawsuit filed by two people in North Dakota Native American tribes, 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals It ruled that only the federal government could sue to enforce the law.
Decision It contradicts decades of jurisprudence. Supreme Court I blocked you in JulyIt allows tribes’ preferred maps to remain in place temporarily.
The appellate court’s finding is nevertheless quoted elsewhere; Mississippi made a similar argument in another appeal of the state legislative map. The court also sent the case back for further hearing on Monday.
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented, writing that both decisions should be reversed.
Meanwhile, the conservative majority has already diluted its enforcement power with its own practices. April decision This collapsed a majority-Black congressional district in Louisiana and made future cases much harder to win.
In that case, the high court’s conservative majority ruled that the map relied too heavily on race, with a district intended to give Black voters a chance to elect a candidate of their choice. The decision effectively limited Voting Rights claims to maps designed to intentionally discriminate; This is a very high standard.
