Supreme Court sends voting rights cases back to lower courts
· UPIMay 18 (UPI) -- The U.S. Supreme Court sent two cases involving part of the Voting Rights Act -- which the high court essentially gutted in a decision last month -- back to lower courts Monday, avoiding another ruling involving the landmark 1965 act.
Supreme Court justices set aside the lower court decisions the cases and told the courts to revisit them in light of the high court's Louisiana vs. Callais decision in late April. The newer cases involve individuals' ability to bring lawsuits under Section 2, a key part of the Voting Rights Act, as opposed to the Justice Department bringing those lawsuits. In both cases, voters had challenged redistricting plans.
Louisiana vs. Callais in April weakened that part of the act, which had helped ensure minority groups could elect their choice of candidates. This set off a flurry of recent redistricting moves meant to eliminate Democrat-led,Black-majority voting districts.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented with the move Monday. Jackson said the high court should have summarily resolved the cases, making it clear that individuals can bring these lawsuits, CNN reported.
The cases returned Monday to the lower courts could have severely limited who can bring lawsuits to enforce this part of the Voting Rights Act. The lawsuits challenged legislative maps in Mississippi and North Dakota drawn after the 2020 census, CBS News reported.
In Mississippi, the state chapter of the NAACP and a group of voters sued; in North Dakota, the lawsuits were brought by several Native American tribes and voters. Both voter groups won in district courts.
North Dakota officials appealed, and the appeals court ruled that, under the Voting Rights Act, the attorney general -- not individuals -- was meant to enforce that part of the act. In Mississippi, officials also argued this interpretation, landing the cases in front of the Supreme Court.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs, however, said this interpretation went against longstanding practice. In a review of cases brought under Section 2, Ellen Katz, a professor at the University of Michigan Law School, found that since 1982, private plaintiffs were part of 96.4% of Section 2 lawsuits that led to published decisions, CBS News reported. Private plaintiffs were the only ones to bring the lawsuits in 86.7% of those cases.
This week in Washington
Vice President JD Vance speaks during a news conference on anti-fraud initiatives in the Indian Treaty Room of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building at the White House on Wednesday. Photo by Daniel Heuer/UPI | License Photo