Appeals Court Rules Against North Dakota Tribes in Voting Rights Case

(Kyle Martin/For the North Dakota Monitor)

(By: Mary Steurer. North Dakota Monitor) – A federal appeals court found that the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa and Spirit Lake Nation don’t have standing to bring a voting discrimination claim against the state of North Dakota.

The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in a 2-1 decision overturned a 2023 decision by a North Dakota federal judge that found the state’s 2021 redistricting plan unlawfully diluted the tribes’ voting power. The ruling will have implications for North Dakota’s legislative districts.

Attorneys representing the tribes say the appellate court’s ruling eliminates voters’ ability to challenge racial discrimination under the Voting Rights Act in North Dakota and the six other 8th Circuit states.

The Campaign Legal Center in a  statement called the decision a “stunningly antidemocratic move.”