Melissa Blanco Examines What’s at Risk in Supreme Court Voting Rights Case

In an Inforum article published July 28, 2025, Melissa Blanco, an appellate attorney at Obermayer, weighed in on the potential U.S. Supreme Court review of a Voting Rights Act (VRA) case involving Native American tribes in North Dakota. The case centers on whether private parties, like the Spirit Lake Nation and Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, have the right to bring VRA lawsuits, a right the 8th Circuit Court recently rejected.

In May, the 8th Circuit reversed a lower court ruling that favored the tribes, but the Supreme Court temporarily paused that decision while it considers whether to hear the case. This pause has given hope to the tribes that the Court will take it up.

While the Supreme Court has been unpredictable in choosing which cases to hear, Blanco said this one stands out:

“The 8th Circuit ruling is a pretty radical departure from the settled law, so now the Supreme Court has a chance to correct it or just visit this issue that it hasn’t visited.”

Blanco also noted that some justices have previously expressed interest in clarifying who has the right to bring VRA lawsuits. She compared the VRA to whistleblower laws, emphasizing that voters have a way to bring up discriminatory election proceedings.

“Without the private ability to challenge election practices, the Voting Rights Act becomes a law without teeth,” she said.

Blanco warned that if the Supreme Court declines to take the case, states could use the ruling to restrict who is allowed to bring Voting Rights Act lawsuits.

“All of the ‘settled law’ that the 8th Circuit just went against, I think, would all of a sudden be in a flux,” she said. “That’s where I think it’s concerning. It’s kind of just putting all of this settled law that’s decades and decades and decades of precedent into flux where we’re not sure what’s going to happen.”

Read the full article here.