A judge appointed by President Donald Trump ruled that North Dakota's legislative maps violated the Votings Rights Act (VRA) and must be revised before the end of the year.
The ruling filed Friday follows similar legal action centered around redistricting and discriminatory lawsuits that have succeeded in states since 2022, including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and South Carolina. Lawsuits are still being deliberated in Texas.
An Alabama map was forced to be redrawn by the state's GOP-led Legislature due to a lack of Black representation, with a judge ruling that the map drawn by conservatives showed one majority-Black district among the seven, even though one-quarter of the state's population is Black.
On Thursday, a Georgia judge similarly ruled that a Republican-drawn map is a gerrymander that dilutes the power of Black voters. The order could impact the makeup of the U.S. House of Representatives, which is controlled by the GOP, after the 2024 elections.
U.S. District Chief Judge Peter Welte, who was nominated by Trump in 2017 to fill a vacancy, said in the ruling that legislative districts drawn in North Dakota with 2020 Census data that went into effect in 2021 violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which prohibits any "standard, practice, or procedure" that "results in a denial or abridgment of the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color[.]"
Mike Nowatzki, spokesperson for North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, told Newsweek via email that the governor is still reviewing the opinion and that his office will be in touch with Secretary of State Mark Howe and legislative leaders about their next steps. Howe was the defendant in the lawsuit.
Welte wrote that the legislative redistricting diluted the voting power of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians and Spirit Lake Tribe, who along with individual Native American voters, filed the lawsuit based in northeastern North Dakota due to voters currently being able to elect the candidate of their choice in only one district rather than two under the previous map.
The two districts are about 60 miles apart, according to the Associated Press.
Newsweek reached out to both tribes via phone and email for comment.
"I am moderately surprised [at the ruling]," Mark Jendrysik, a professor of political science and public administration the University of North Dakota, told Newsweek. "There has been long-term agitation by Native Americans around voting rights and representation in the Legislature. I'm surprised it came down because historically the general view is that Native Americans are sufficiently represented in how districts are drawn."
The recent number of cases and legal challenges are due to the U.S. Supreme Court rulings on gerrymandering, which he said opened the floodgates and "obviously people are going to test the limits of that."
But the ruling will likely make no political difference in North Dakota, he added, due to massive Republican super majorities. Native Americans, due to the redrawn maps, could gain at most one to two seats but the legislative effect will be minute.
The complaint alleged that the Republican-led Legislature packed Native American voters from the two tribal groups into one legislative district and spread them out among nearby districts, according to Democracy Docket.
A four-day bench trial was held in June. Howe argued that the state's 2021 redistricting plan is lawful.
While Welte said in his ruling that Howe and the Legislature sought input from the tribes and other Native American representatives, he added that their efforts did not go far enough to comply with Section 2 of the VRA.
Newsweek reached out to Howe and his office via email for comment.
Howe and the Assembly have until December 22 to adopt a new legislative map, with the tribes able to file any objections January 5. The district's new map will take effect in the November 2024 election.
Update 11/17/23, 2:48 p.m. ET: This story was updated with comment from Mark Jendrysik.
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