SD Attorney General will Probably Appeal Native Americans Voting rights Ruling 

Friday, September 17, 2004 at 06:41AM
TheSpook

He doesn't expect a firm decision until next week at the earliest, but South Dakota Attorney General Larry Long said the state will likely appeal a federal ruling that legislative district boundaries violate the federal Voting Rights Act. "It is more likely than not that we will ultimately appeal," Long said Thursday. U.S. District Judge Karen Schreier ruled Wednesday that districts drawn after the 2000 Census illegally diluted the votes of American Indians. The American Civil Liberties Union argued that the state packed a 90 percent supermajority of Indians into one district that encompasses the Pine Ridge and Rosebud Indian reservations. The Indian population should have been divided between that district and a neighboring district so that members of the state's largest racial minority could have a voice in more legislative races, the ACLU argued. Schreier ordered the state to submit new district boundaries to her within 45 days of the ruling. Long said he would not make a decision on if or what to appeal until he meets with the secretary of state and the Legislature, the named defendants in the suit. [more ]

Article originally appeared on (http://brownwatch.com/).