US District Chief Judge Peter D. Welte ordered a new joint North Dakota legislative district for two Native American tribes on Monday. The Tribes successfully argued that a map created through redistricting in 2021 violated the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965. The latest ruling confirmed that the 2021 state redistricting legislation diluted their voting strength.

Welte denied a motion to stay his decision in the lawsuit brought by the tribes. The Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians and the Spirit Lake Tribe had awaited the North Dakota Secretary of State’s court-ordered response by late December. Secretary of State Micheal Howe did not deliver one. Thus, Welte concluded that  “if the Secretary elects not to offer a proposed remedial plan (as is the case here), then it becomes the unwelcome obligation of the federal court to devise a remedy.”

Welte emphasized that the secretary was given a reasonable amount of time to propose a plan that wouldn’t dilute the voting power of the tribes, and he failed to do so. Specifically, Welte said the court’s remedial plan only requires changes to three districts and would be the least intrusive option to comply with section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and the North Dakota Constitution. According to the North Dakota Constitution, the legislative assembly must “guarantee, as nearly as is practicable, that every elector is equal to every other in the state in power to cast ballots for legislative candidates.”

In the original case, Welte ruled that the map violated the Voting Rights Act in that it unequivocally “prevents Native American voters from having an equal opportunity to elect candidates of their choice.’ The judge asserted that public interest lies in correcting section 2 violations, particularly when proven by a preponderance of evidence and extensive data at trial; it is then clearly “in the interest of justice.” Additionally, the legislature unsuccessfully appealed to the Court of Appeals of the Eighth Circuit, claiming “legislative privilege.”

The Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians is a federally recognized Native American tribe of Ojibwe based on the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation in Belcourt, North Dakota. The tribe has 30,000 enrolled members; the Spirit Lake Tribe has 6,700 members on the southern shores of Devil’s Lake, North Dakota.

The first election for the state legislative positions in the newly appointed remedial district will occur in the November 2024 election.