June 14, 2023
Days before starting a bench trial this week over allegations that North Dakota's new legislative maps disadvantage Native American voters, counsel for the Spirit Lake Tribe and the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians didn't know if they could still lean on the central pillar of their case.
June 12, 2023
North Dakota tribes that claim the state's new legislative maps illegally disadvantage their voters can utilize a contested tranche of expert testimony, a federal judge has ruled, bolstering the tribes' Voting Rights Act lawsuit just ahead of a bench trial over their allegations.
June 07, 2023
North Dakota lawmakers need not produce documents detailing a recent redistricting process that two Native American tribes say weakened their electoral power, the Eighth Circuit ruled, allowing the Republican officials to assert legislative privilege over the records.
May 23, 2023
Two tribes in North Dakota are defending the expert testimony they plan to offer at an upcoming bench trial challenging the state's new electoral maps, rebuffing as "misplaced" a series of concerns voiced earlier this month by state Secretary of State Michael Howe.
May 15, 2023
North Dakota's top elections officer is battling to limit testimony at an upcoming bench trial over allegations that the state's electoral maps illegally disadvantage Native American voters, an effort that focuses on excluding certain redistricting and socioeconomic evidence.
April 10, 2023
A North Dakota federal judge on Monday rejected a quick win bid from the North Dakota secretary of state in a voting rights suit involving two Native American tribes, finding that the facts in dispute are fit for trial and not an early ruling.
January 09, 2023
North Dakota Secretary of State Michael Howe denies that legislative redistricting prevented Native American voters from having an equal opportunity to elect their candidates of choice in November's elections, urging a federal judge to toss a supplemental complaint filed by two Native American tribes in the state.
July 07, 2022
A North Dakota federal judge on Thursday denied the state's motion to dismiss a suit claiming its new legislative districts dilute Native Americans' voting rights, ruling the tribes' right to seek a remedy is embedded in case law.
May 23, 2022
The Biden administration has waded into a redistricting spat in North Dakota, backing the right of two Native American tribes and several of their members to sue the state's top election official over their claims that its new legislative districts illegally dilute Native voting power.
May 16, 2022
The Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians and the Spirit Lake Tribe have urged a federal judge to reject the North Dakota secretary of state's bid to dismiss their suit claiming the state's new legislative districts illegally dilute Native American voting power, saying they have the firmly established right to bring claims under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act — notwithstanding Justice Neil Gorsuch's earlier suggestion that the issue is still up in the air.