U.S. Supreme Court Vacates Lower Court Ruling in State Legislative Map Dispute

Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, et al., Petitioners v. North Dakota Legislative Assembly, et al., Case No. 23-847

Robins Kaplan, along with the Native American Rights Fund, Campaign Legal Center and the Law Offices of Bryan Sells, represents the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians and Spirit Lake Tribe in a Voting Rights Act dispute filed in February of 2022. This dispute arose from a North Dakota legislative redistricting plan that the tribes alleged had an effect of diluting the votes of Native Americans living in north-central North Dakota.

During discovery, plaintiffs served subpoenas on current and former North Dakota lawmakers and the lawmakers moved the District Court to quash those subpoenas. The district court denied these motions and the defendants appealed the ruling to the Eight Circuit Court of Appeals, which reversed the ruling and directed the lower court to quash all but one subpoena. While the discovery dispute was being litigated in the appellate court, the Tribes prevailed in District Court and the North Dakota State Legislature was ordered to adopt a new plan that would remedy Voting Rights Act violations.

The tribes then petitioned the Supreme Court to take up the discovery matter. The Petition to the Supreme Court presented two questions: (1) Should the Court vacate the Eighth Circuit’s decision? (2) Are state legislatures absolutely immune from civil discovery or is the state legislative privilege a qualified one that yields where important federal interest are a stake? The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Petitioners, granting cert and the motion to vacate the judgment. In August 2024, the Eighth Circuit issued a judgment dismissing the case as moot.