Eighth Circuit Vacates Voting Rights Act Win for Turtle Mountain and Spirit Lake Tribes

Here is the opinion in Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians v. Howe. Here is a related opinion in Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians v. North Dakota Legislative Assembly.

Prior post on the trial proceedings.

Briefs in the main case:

Appellant Brief

Red States Amicus Brief

Appellee Brief

Federal Amicus Brief

Lawyers Committee Amicus Brief

NAACP Amicus Brief

NCAI Amicus Brief

Reply

House Democrats’ Report on Native Voting

Here.

Well, this image is hideous. . . that’s s’posed to be a voting booth in the desert.

SCOTUS Cert Stage Materials in Turtle Mountain Ojibwe Efforts to Uncover Republican Legislators’ Racial Animus

Here are the cert stage materials in Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians v. North Dakota Legislative Assembly:

Cert Petition

Republican Governors Amicus Brief in Opposition

Questions presented:

1. Should this Court vacate the Eighth Circuit’s decision under United States v. Munsingwear, Inc., 340 U.S. 36 (1950)? 2. Are state legislators absolutely immune from civil discovery, including from producing documents and communications that involved or were shared with third parties, or is the state legislative privilege a qualified one, based on principles of comity, that yields where important federal interests are at stake?

Lower court materials here.

Split Eighth Circuit Panel Shields Communications between North Dakota Legislators and Constituents that Probably Shows Racial Animus against Native Voters

Here are the materials in In re: North Dakota Legislative Assembly:

Opinion

Petition for Writ of Mandamus

Turtle Mountain Opposition

The underlying case is here.

Student Note on Native Voting Rights

Noelle N. Wyman has published “Native Voting Power: Enhancing Tribal Sovereignty in Federal Elections” (PDF) in the Yale Law Journal. Here is the abstract:

Members of tribal nations are disproportionately burdened by barriers to voting, from strict voter identification and registration requirements to inadequate language assistance and inaccessible polling locations. Restrictive voting laws are on the rise, while the avenues for challenging them under the prevailing model of voting rights are narrowing. This Note advocates for a different approach to conceptualizing and combatting Native American voter suppression.

First, it advances a new jurisprudential theory centered on tribal sovereignty: suppressing the Native vote not only denies rights to individual citizens but also denies sovereign power to tribes. Historically, states required Native American people to renounce tribal membership, culture, and lands to vote. Today, states and localities continue to denigrate tribal sovereignty in the administration of elections, such as by rejecting tribal-issued IDs and interfering with tribes’ organization of their own political communities. Apart from securing the fundamental rights of individual Native citizens, Congress has a substantive duty to secure tribal sovereignty in federal election administration that is rooted in its trust obligation to tribes.

Second, this Note proposes a new legal framework for enhancing Native voting power: Congress should require states and local election officials to negotiate with federally recognized tribes toward the formation of tribal-state compacts governing federal election administration in Indian Country. This framework would relieve tribes of the burdens that they currently carry to initiate collaboration with local election officials, fill gaps in voter assistance, and challenge unlawful voting restrictions in court. Meanwhile, it would involve tribes in the process of lawmaking and regulation, enabling them to exert a measure of sovereign power over federal elections in Indian Country.

Winnebago Tribe Brings Voting Rights Case in Nebraska

Here is the complaint in Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska v. Thurston County (D. Neb.):

Navajo Nation Sues San Juan County, NM over Redistricting

Here is the complaint in Navajo Nation v. San Juan County (D.N.M.):

Lawyers gonna need donuts for this one.

Eighth Circuit Affirms Attorney Fee Award in Spirit Lake Nation Voting Rights Matter

Here is the opinion in Spirit Lake Nation v. Jaeger.

Briefs:

State Brief

Tribe Brief

Reply

WaPo: “Native voters are clearing hurdles. That’s why some politicians want to make them higher.”

Here.

NYTs: “How G.O.P. Laws in Montana Could Complicate Voting for Native Americans”

Here.