Federal Appeals Court Deals Blow To Voting Rights Act

WASHINGTON (AP) — A divided federal appeals court has found that private individuals and groups such as the NAACP do not have the ability to sue under a key section of the federal Voting Rights Act. It’s a decision that voting rights advocates say could further erode protections under the landmark 1965 law. The 2-1 decision Monday by a panel of the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals based in St. Louis found that only the U.S. attorney general can enforce Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. That section prohibits discriminatory voting practices such as racially gerrymandered districts.