Supreme Court grants a stay of the Eighth Circuit mandate in Turtle Mountain Band v Howe

[Safiel]

https://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/072425zr_o75p.pdf

Link to Order of the Supreme Court granting a stay of the Eighth Circuit mandate in Turtle Mountain Band v Howe.

Thomas, Alito and Gorsuch would have denied the application. At least 5 Justices would have had to vote in favor.

This is about as crucial a case as it gets, far more than any gun or abortion case.

The case has the potential to effectively kill the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act if the Supreme Court ultimately upholds the Eighth Circuit, by prohibiting private suits to enforce these acts. The Trump administration has already effectively ended public enforcement of both acts, so there would literally be zero way to get relief under either act.

States and individuals could engage in pre-1964 behavior with impunity, with no civil rights or voting rights mechanism to stop it.

Pray the 5 or 6 Justices that granted the stay ultimately rule against the Eighth Circuit and in favor of civil rights and voting rights.

 

[Loulit01]

The Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, Spirit Lake Nation, and individual Native voters proved at trial that that the North Dakota Legislature’s 2021 redistricting map violated Section 2 of the VRA because it unlawfully diluted Native American voters' voting rights by cracking and packing Native voters into gerrymandered districts. Although the 8th Circuit had previously held that private plaintiffs may not sue directly under Section 2, it had left open the question whether they may enforce Section 2 via a different civil rights statute, 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The district court ruled that the plaintiffs here could challenge the discriminatory map through Section 1983.

A divided panel of the 8th Circuit reversed. Despite the fact that the court had previously made clear that the enforceability of Section 2 of the VRA via Section 1983 was an open question, the majority ruled that Arkansas State Conference court had actually answered that question in the negative. Because that ruling conflicts with 8th Circuit and Supreme Court precedent, the plaintiffs have asked the full 8th Circuit to rehear the case en banc to re-establish that private plaintiffs could enforce Section 2 of the VRA—either directly or through Section 1983.

On behalf of the plaintiffs from the Arkansas State Conference case—NAACP Arkansas State Conference and the Arkansas Public Policy Panel—the ACLU and ACLU of Arkansas filed an amicus brief encouraging the 8th Circuit to rehear the case en banc. The brief emphasizes how the Arkansas State Conference court explicitly left this question open and how foreclosing Section 2 enforcement would harm Black voters across the circuit who have long relied on the statute’s protection to help secure an equal opportunity to participate in the political process.

Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians v. Howe (Amicus) | American Civil Liberties Union

In Arkansas State Conference NAACP v. Arkansas Board of Apportionment, the 8th Circuit became the first federal appeals court to rule that private plaintiffs cannot enforce Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. In doing so, the court left open the question whether private plaintiffs could enforce...

www.aclu.org

 

[Slartibartfast]

A return to the tactics of the 30s and 60s may be needed to get rights restored.

 

[Loulit01]

A return to the tactics of the 30s and 60s may be needed to get rights restored.

I'd like to march but I have to leave when it's time to pee. I'm old.

 

[Slartibartfast]

I'd like to march but I have to leave when it's time to pee. I'm old.

Yeah, I think we are at a points that rights will have to be retaken.