The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Dec. 18, 2023
Today’s Script
(Variations occur with audio due to editing for time. Today’s Links below the script)
You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.
Last week we reported on the aftershocks of an Arkansas racial gerrymandering case, where the U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals decided voters and groups had “No private right of action” under the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Two rulings issued Friday, December 15th pushed back on that radical decision.
GOP officials in North Dakota and Louisiana seized on the Eighth Circuit’s decision to see if they could overturn federal court mandates to draw maps where Native and Black Americans could have an opportunity to elect the candidate of their choice under the VRA.
Citing the “no private right of action,” decision the State of North Dakota tried to stop the redrawing of maps in a case won by the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians and the Spirit Lake Tribe. Democracy Docket reports that an unsigned order Friday, also from the Eighth Circuit, denied the appeal by the state’s GOP Secretary of State.
In another VRA racial gerrymandering case won by voters, the GOP Louisiana Secretary of State AND Attorney General asked for a rehearing of Robinson v. Ardoin, also based on the Eighth Circuit’s decision. The Fifth Circuit didn’t agree, denying the state’s request, and mandating the map with a VRA-compliant district be drawn by January 30th, per the lower court’s order.
We have more the defense of the Voting Rights Act Section 2 at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. I’m Brian Beihl.
Today’s Links
Articles & Resources:
NPR – How a Supreme Court justice’s paragraph put the Voting Rights Act in more danger
AP – Court ruling backs tribes’ effort to force lawmakers to redraw North Dakota legislative boundaries
Democracy Docket – 8th Circuit Greenlights Redraw of North Dakota Legislative Map To Comply With Voting Rights Act
U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals – APPEAL FROM DECISION OF THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF NORTH DAKOTA
Louisiana Illuminator – 5th Circuit denies Louisiana’s appeal in congressional redistricting case
Louisiana Illuminator – Louisiana Legislature gets time to draw congressional map in third redistricting session
Brennan Center for Justice – The Newest Attack on the Voting Rights Act
Groups Taking Action:
ACLU, NAACP Legal Defence Fund, Native American Rights Fund, Power Coalition for Equity and Justice
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