A federal appeals court ruled Monday that private entities cannot bring lawsuits under a key provision of the landmark Voting Rights Act, setting the stage for a battle at the Supreme Court — possibly ahead of next year’s presidential election.
Three judges on the St. Louis-based Eighth US Circuit Court of Appeals found that only the Justice Department can bring cases using Section 2 of the 1965 law, which bars voting practices or procedures that have the intent or effect of discriminating on the basis of race, color or membership in certain minority groups
For decades, ordinary citizens and civil rights groups used Section 2 to bring forward allegations of discrimination by state and local election officials.
But in a 2-1 vote, the panel concluded the law does not provide for a so-called “private right of action.”
The Voting Rights Act has been featured in a number of redistricting court cases across the country. AP“For much of the last half-century, courts have assumed that [Section 2] is privately enforceable. A deeper look has revealed that this assumption rests on flimsy footing,” Circuit Judge David Stras, a Trump appointee, wrote in his majority opinion.
Stras was backed by Judge Raymond Gruender, a George W. Bush appointee, while Chief Circuit Judge Lavenski Smith, also a Bush appointee, dissented.
“Until the [Supreme] Court rules or Congress amends the statute, I would follow existing precedent that permits citizens to seek a judicial remedy,” Smith argued.
The Supreme Court recently affirmed Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Graeme Sloan/Sipa USA“Rights so foundational to self-government and citizenship should not depend solely on the discretion or availability of the government’s agents.”
At issue was a case brought by the Arkansas chapter of the NAACP and the Arkansas Public Policy Panel challenging the state’s legislative districts, arguing that the map diluted the power of Arkansas’ black voters.
In February 2022, US District Judge Lee Rudofsky, a Trump appointee, ruled that only the federal government could bring forth such cases and Monday’s split decision upholds that ruling.
Any appeal could first be heard by the full Eighth Circuit before heading to the Supreme Court.
Earlier this year, the high court sided with a coalition of civil rights groups and individual voters from Alabama who used Section 2 to challenge that state’s congressional map, leading to the creation of an additional majority-black district.
