The Supreme Court on Monday ordered lower courts to reconsider a ruling that would sharply limit who can sue under the Voting Rights Act, acting in a case brought by two Native American tribes in North Dakota. The justices directed the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to revisit its decision that only the federal government — not voters or advocacy groups — can bring lawsuits under Section 2 of the landmark civil rights law.
The 8th Circuit’s ruling, which conflicted with decades of case law, had been blocked by the Supreme Court in July 2024, allowing the tribes’ preferred voting maps to temporarily stay in place. Monday’s order requires the appeals court to reconsider the case in light of a recent Supreme Court decision that weakened the Voting Rights Act.
Attorneys for the tribes had argued that the 8th Circuit’s ruling would dismantle a key enforcement mechanism of the Voting Rights Act. Private lawsuits have been responsible for the vast majority of Section 2 cases since the law was enacted, and civil rights groups had warned that restricting enforcement to the federal government would effectively gut the provision.
The case returns to the lower court at a time when the Voting Rights Act’s protections have been under sustained legal assault. The Supreme Court’s recent decision in a Louisiana case, which narrowed the circumstances under which plaintiffs can bring racial gerrymandering claims, has already prompted a wave of litigation over redistricting maps across the country.