American Democracy Minute | Radio Report & Podcast on Democracy Issues

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Nov. 28, 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.

A radical decision last week in an Arkansas racial gerrymandering case stopped voters and democracy groups from suing under the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The State of North Dakota took advantage of the decision to appeal to have their racially discriminating gerrymandered maps restored, struck down after a lower court found they suppressed Native American voting power.

The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals decision said that only the U.S. Attorney General had standing to sue under the VRA, and the decision covers cases in Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota. The fringe decision is likely to end up in the U.S. Supreme Court.

The State of North Dakota was sued by the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, the Spirit Lake Tribe, and individual Native voters in 2022, who argued that voting district maps were manipulated to suppress Native voting power. As a result, for the first time since 1991 no Native American is serving in the North Dakota senate. November 17th, a federal court judge agreed, giving the state until December. 22nd to draw new fair maps.

The Brennan Center for Justice writes that the Eighth Circuit’s Arkansas decision is likely doomed, either from an appeal with all judges presiding, or by the U.S. Supreme Court. The Brennan Center said about the case, “It is not just wrong but shockingly so, radically out of step with the history of the Voting Rights Act and decades-old practices.”

We have a story on the North Dakota appeal and the Eighth Circuit’s decision at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
Democracy Docket – North Dakota Legislative Redistricting Challenge (Turtle Mountain Band)
Native American Rights Fund – COURT BLOCKS NORTH DAKOTA VOTING MAP THAT DISCRIMINATED AGAINST NATIVE VOTERS
CBS News Minnesota – In wake of Voting Rights Act ruling, North Dakota to appeal decision that protected tribes’ rights
Brennan Center for Justice – The Newest Attack on the Voting Rights Act