A panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit struck down one of the key remaining ways to enforce the federal Voting Rights Act (VRA) on Wednesday. In a 2-1 decision, Judges Raymond Gruender and Jonathan Kobes held that §2 of the VRA does not confer a “private right of action for alleged violations.”

Plaintiffs in this case included the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians and the Spirit Lake Tribe. The plaintiffs sued North Dakota Secretary of State Michael Howe in early 2022, challenging the state’s redistricting plan and claiming it violated §2 of the VRA by diminishing their voting strength. The lower federal court ruled in favor of the groups and found that the redistricting violated the VRA.

In the appeal to the Eighth Circuit, Howe argued that the tribes and other Native American representatives could not bring a private claim for alleged violations of §2 because “§ 2 does not unambiguously confer an individual right, the plaintiffs do not have a cause of action under 42 USC § 1983 to enforce § 2 of the Act.”

Chief Judge Steven Colloton dissented, stating:

Since 1982, private plaintiffs have brought more than 400 actions based on § 2 that have resulted in judicial decisions. The majority concludes that all of those cases should have been dismissed because § 2 of the Voting Rights Act does not confer a voting right. Consistent with all other courts to address the issue, I conclude that § 2 confers an individual right and that the enforcement scheme described in the Act is not incompatible with private enforcement under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.

It may be worth noting that before this appellate court ruling, the lower court’s decision had forced North Dakota to adopt suggested legislative district outlines supplied by the plaintiffs, as it had not proposed new rectified legislative district lines of its own to the court. Those redesigned districts were in effect for the 2024 election cycle.