The Supreme Court temporarily blocked a ruling Wednesday that would have potentially disenfranchised American Indians in a legal battle over North Dakota’s legislative map.
Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh in a brief order put a halt on a decision out of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that rejected a challenge to the state’s map which a lower court had previously reasoned discriminated against Native Americans.
The map moved to eliminate two of three legislative districts that have a heavy Indian population.
The lower court instead allowed a map proposed by the plaintiffs to be used, but the state had appealed and the 8th Circuit had ruled the Indians cannot bring a challenge by private plaintiffs, citing civil rights laws.
That follows another case, where the 8th Circuit had ruled private challengers cannot use Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act to bring cases. Section 2 is meant to protect