A federal appeals court decision that effectively weakens a key section of the Voting Rights Act for Black and Brown voters in several states and could dampen their power ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
In a 2-1 decision on Nov. 21, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals restricted part of the Section 2 provision that protects voters of color from racial discrimination, ruling that only the federal government can sue to enforce this section, not private individuals or civil rights groups.
The 8th Circuit covers Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Missouri, and Arkansas, so private individuals and groups in these states can no longer bring litigation alleging voter discrimination for the time being.
This decision comes at a time when several Southern states have been ordered to redraw congressional district lines due to voter discrimination. This is the result of the work of groups like the ACLU and the NAACP, which have filed legal complaints alleging that old district lines purposely and illegally diminished the power and influence of the Black and Brown vote.
In the last year, state lawmakers in Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and Louisiana have had to redraw their congressional lines to enfranchise minority voters.
In 2021, the Arkansas NAACP and others challenged their new state House districts, alleging that the Arkansas map also violated Section 2 and reduced the power of Black voters. They demanded that five additional majority-Black districts should be drawn to fairly represent the state’s Black population.
Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act was upheld in June by the Supreme Court, but the recent ruling from the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals will likely reprise another national battle over voting rights when numerous state elections are slated to take place across the country.
U.S. Circuit Judge David Stras, a Trump appointee and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ former court clerk, wrote the…
Read the full article here
