TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Jul 2, 2024

Civil rights activists have decided not to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review a federal appeals court's ruling that would sharply curtail lawsuits in parts of the country seeking to enforce a landmark voting rights law's protections against racial discrimination. The Arkansas Public Policy Panel and the Arkansas State Conference NAACP had faced a Friday deadline to ask the justices to hear an appeal of a lower-court's decision holding that only the government and not private plaintiffs can pursue cases enforcing Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The groups — which are challenging a redistricting plan for the Arkansas State House of Representatives — said they instead will use “an alternative mechanism” to pursue their goals, namely an 1871 law enacted in the post-Civil War Reconstruction era. Reuters has more about the decision.