The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit has issued a significant ruling in Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians v. Howe, affecting the enforcement of the Voting Rights Act. The court decided that private plaintiffs cannot pursue allegations of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act violations using 42 U.S.C. Section 1983, deviating from precedence set by hundreds of district court cases.
This ruling concerns a legal action initiated by the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, the Spirit Lake Tribe, and individual Native American voters. They challenged North Dakota’s 2021 redistricting, claiming it diluted Native American voting strength, allegedly in violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The decision has critical implications for the scope of legal avenues available to private plaintiffs seeking to enforce the act.
Further details on this ruling can be found in the original article.