In Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians v. Howe, — F. 4th —-, 2025 WL 1389774 (8th Cir. 2025), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit departed from hundreds of district court cases and held that private plaintiffs cannot maintain a private right of action for alleged violations of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act through 42 U.S.C. Section 1983.
The plaintiffs in this case are two tribes—the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians and the Spirit Lake Tribe—and three individual Native American voters. The plaintiffs brought an action against North Dakota’s Secretary of State through 42 U.S.C. Section 1983 alleging that North Dakota’s 2021 redistricting diluted Native American voting strength in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA).