Court Ruling May Weaken Voting Rights Act

A divided federal appeals court on Monday ruled that private individuals and groups such as the NAACP do not have the ability to sue under a key section of the federal Voting Rights Act, a decision that voting rights advocates say could further erode protections under the landmark 1965 law. The 2-1 decision by a panel of the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals based in St. Louis found that only the US attorney general can enforce Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which requires political maps to include districts where minority populations' preferred candidates can win elections, the AP reports. The majority said other federal laws, including the 1964 Civil Rights Act, make it clear when private groups can sue but said similar wording is not found in the voting law.

"When those details are missing, it is not our place to fill in the gaps, except when 'text and structure' require it," US Circuit Judge David Stras wrote for the majority in an opinion joined by Judge Raymond Gruender. Stras was nominated by former President Donald Trump and Gruender by former President George W. Bush. The decision affirmed a lower judge's decision to dismiss a case brought by the Arkansas State Conference NAACP and the Arkansas Public Policy Panel after giving US Attorney General Merrick Garland five days to join the lawsuit. Chief Judge Lavenski Smith noted in a dissenting opinion that federal courts across the country and the US Supreme Court have considered numerous cases brought by private plaintiffs under Section 2.

Sophia Lin Lakin, director of the ACLU's Voting Rights Project, called the ruling a "travesty for democracy." She had argued the appeal on behalf of the two Arkansas groups. "By failing to reverse the district court's radical decision, the Eighth Circuit has put the Voting Rights Act in jeopardy, tossing aside critical protections that voters fought and died for," Lakin said in a statement. It was not immediately clear whether the groups would appeal. Barry Jefferson, political action chair of the Arkansas State Conference of the NAACP, called the ruling "a devastating blow to the civil rights of every American, and the integrity of our nation's electoral system." Monday's ruling applies only to federal courts covered by the 8th Circuit, per the AP.

(More Voting Rights Act stories.)