Does this mean Trump can't sue if he loses again? Just kidding. Sadly I don't think he's losing again.
Appeals Court Curbs Voting Lawsuits Claiming Discrimination
If it stands, the 2-1 decision would mark a sea change in the law
By Mariah Timms, WSJ
Updated Nov. 20, 2023 2:59 pm ET
A ruling that places limits on voting-rights lawsuits cut against years of decisions by other courts.
A federal appeals court ruled Monday that voters alleging discrimination in election rules don’t have a right to sue, a decision that could have a sweeping impact on voting rights if adopted by other courts.
The Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-to-1 ruling, held that private plaintiffs can’t bring legal claims under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, a bedrock provision of the 1965 law that prohibits discriminatory voting practices. Instead, only the U.S. attorney general can bring such lawsuits, the court said.
The decision, which cut against years of rulings by other courts, said the Arkansas branch of the NAACP and another organization couldn’t challenge the district lines drawn for the Arkansas House of Representatives after the 2020 census.
Circuit Judge David Stras, a Trump appointee writing for the majority, acknowledged that courts have allowed such private lawsuits for decades but said the text and structure of the Voting Rights Act didn’t allow for such claims.
“If the 1965 Congress ‘clearly intended’ to create a private right of action, then why not say so in the statute?” Stras wrote. Joining him in the majority was Circuit Judge Raymond W. Gruender, a George W. Bush appointee.
In dissent, Chief Judge Lavenski R. Smith, another George W. Bush appointee, said a long line of existing court precedent allowed private citizens to seek judicial remedies for discrimination in voting.
“Rights so foundational to self-government and citizenship should not depend solely on the discretion or availability of the government’s agents for protection,” Smith wrote.
The voter groups in the case, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, alleged that the new state legislative map illegally diluted the voting strength of Black Arkansans, leaving disproportionately few majority-Black districts.
“This is a really radical ruling,” said Sophia Lin Lakin, director of the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project and lead counsel on the Arkansas lawsuit. “It’s a truly disappointing day for this country, and for voting rights, to have this ruling in place.”
The voters are considering their next steps, which could include asking the court to reconsider the case with more judges participating or petitioning the Supreme Court, Lakin said.
Arkansas held state legislative elections in 2022 under the new map.
The ruling applies in seven Midwestern states covered by the Eighth Circuit: Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota.
Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin, a Republican, said courts for too long “have allowed political activists to file meritless lawsuits seeking to seize control of how states conduct elections and redistricting. This decision confirms that enforcement of the Voting Rights Act should be handled by politically accountable officials and not by outside special interest groups.”
Republican attorneys general from 14 states filed an amicus brief in support of Arkansas. Led by the office of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, they said private enforcement of the federal voting-rights law intruded on state sovereignty and forced states to “incur heavy costs—often millions of dollars—to defend themselves against each suit, often in complex federal litigation that spans years if not decades.”
The case has drawn national attention since U.S. District Judge Lee Rudofsky in Little Rock, Ark., last year first ruled the voting groups couldn’t sue, despite what he described as strong arguments that at least some of the challenged district lines were unlawful. The decision Monday ruling affirmed his decision.
The Supreme Court in past cases has assumed private voting litigants have a right to sue, without addressing the issue directly.
In a June high court ruling, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh joined liberal Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson in siding with voters and civil-rights groups that challenged Alabama congressional district lines as discriminatory. The decision reaffirmed decades of precedent.
Two conservative justices, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch, in recent cases have said they think it is an open question whether citizens have a private right to sue under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.
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