From today’s NPR News:
Civil rights organizations are asking the full 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to review a ruling by a three-judge panel that threatens to make it harder to enforce the Voting Rights Act’s protections against racial discrimination in the election process.
The court filing released Monday by attorneys led by the American Civil Liberties Union marks another step in a case that could become the next U.S. Supreme Court showdown that further weakens the landmark law.
The panel’s ruling upheld a lower court decision that found that private individuals and groups — who, for decades, have brought the majority of lawsuits under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act — do not have the right to sue because they are not explicitly named in the law.
That decision came out of a redistricting lawsuit filed by the Arkansas State Conference NAACP and the Arkansas Public Policy Panel, which challenged Arkansas’ state House map.
The groups argued that the legislative redistricting plan approved by Republican politicians violates Section 2 by diluting the collective voting power of Black people in Arkansas, where 16.5% of the state’s population is Black.
Only 11 out of Arkansas’ 100 state House districts, however, are majority-Black districts, where Black voters have a realistic opportunity to elect their preferred representative.
The final outcome of this redistricting case is not expected to affect the 2024 elections for Arkansas’ state House, as the filing deadline for next year’s candidates passed last month.
Read the complete story here.