The South Dakota Legislature's Executive Board will hold an emergency meeting today to consider a voting rights lawsuit affecting members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Rosebud Sioux Tribe.

On behalf of members of the two tribes, the American Civil Liberties Union sued the state over a 2001 redistricting plan. The suit said reservation voters were unfairly packed into one legislative district with a 95 percent Indian majority.

U.S. District Judge Karen Schreier ruled in September 2004 agreed that the plan violated voting rights of tribal members. She ordered the state to present a fix by the end of this month. One remedy offered by the ACLU would create two Indian majority districts.

Some lawmakers favor an appeal to the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Get the Story:
Lawmakers ponder redistricting appeal (The Sioux Falls Argus Leader 7/10)

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