A Voting Rights Act Ruling That's 100% Wrong
The 8th Circuit ignored decades of precedent to undercut the important civil rights law.
Sidelined.
Photographer: Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty ImagesJust in time for Thanksgiving, the US Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit has delivered a turkey of a decision, undoing the long-accepted right of private citizens to sue to enforce Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. I am not usually this harsh, but the court’s ruling in Arkansas State Conference NAACP v. Arkansas Board of Apportionment is simply wrong.
A bit of background. When one person sues another for violating a statute, how does a judge decide whether to let the suit proceed? In some cases, the statute says explicitly that a private plaintiff can sue. In others, it doesn’t and the judge has to decide whether to “imply” what’s known as a private right of action. No private right of action, no lawsuit.