Court rules that only US government can sue to enforce Voting Rights Act

Shock ruling from Republican-appointed appeals court prevents outside groups or citizens seeking to enforce voting rights law

A federal appeals court shocked voting rights groups on Monday with a ruling that only the US government, not outside groups or citizens, could sue to enforce the Voting Rights Act's provisions.

The civil rights law, which outlaws racial discrimination as it relates to voting, has typically been enforced by lawsuits from these groups, not by the government itself. Now that the Republican-appointed eighth circuit court of appeals has made the ruling by 2-1, this private right of action" to enforce Section 2 of the law is called into question.