Supreme Court pauses ruling limiting Voting Rights Act challenges – Washington Examiner
The U.S. Supreme Court has temporarily halted a lower court ruling that restricted private individuals from suing over possible violations of the Voting Rights Act.This pause applies to a case involving Native American groups challenging North Dakota’s state legislative maps. The Eighth Circuit Court had ruled that private parties cannot contest such maps under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, siding with the state. The Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision to stay this ruling allows the Native American groups to petition for a full hearing in the upcoming term. Justices Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch dissented without giving reasons. This development coincides with the Court preparing to revisit another voting rights case concerning Louisiana’s redistricting plans, which had been delayed after last term’s arguments.
Supreme Court pauses ruling limiting Voting Rights Act challenges
The Supreme Court on Thursday paused a lower court ruling limiting the ability of private individuals to bring lawsuits over potential violations of the Voting Rights Act. The case could be heard by the justices on the merits in the coming term.
The justices stayed a ruling from the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit regarding a challenge to North Dakota’s state legislative maps from Native American groups. The ruling, which favored the state, said that private parties could not challenge state legislative maps under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The 6-3 ruling from the Supreme Court paused that ruling while the Native American groups filed a petition for the high court to take on the case.
The unsigned order on Thursday did not elaborate on the justices’ reasoning. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch dissented from the order granting the stay, but did not elaborate on their reasoning either.
The Native American groups, in their application to the high court asking for the stay, argued the Eight Circuit’s ruling knee-caped “Congress’s most important civil rights statute,” while arguing the ruling that found no private right to challenge legislative maps under Section 2 upended “sixty years of practice.”
The order regarding a challenge to the Voting Rights Act comes as the high court will again hear arguments in a redistricting case involving the state of Louisiana’s maps in the upcoming term.
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The Louisiana case centers on the legality of state lawmakers creating a second majority-black congressional district in the state in a bid to comply with Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The lawsuit brought by non-black voters argued the state violated the Equal Protection Clause by favoring race as a factor over other criteria, including compactness and geography, when making the map.
The Supreme Court heard arguments during the last term, but punted on a decision last month and opted to rehear arguments in the upcoming term.
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