Turtle Mountain — Eighth Circuit Order

The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that private plaintiffs cannot maintain a private right of action for alleged violations of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act through 42 U.S.C. § 1983. This decision vacates the win below for Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians and Spirit Lake Nation, who had successfully proven at trial that the North Dakota Legislature's 2021 redistricting map unlawfully diluted Native American voters' voting rights by cracking and packing Native voters into gerrymandered districts. Under this decision, only the attorney general can enforce Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act in the Eighth Circuit, undermining decades of Supreme Court precedent affirming voters’ power to enforce the law in court.