A panel of conservative judges on the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that private individuals or groups cannot bring suit under the Voting Rights Act on Monday.

The decision by a three-judge panel in the case, Arkansas State Conference NAACP v. Arkansas Board of Apportionment, would take away the main avenue used to enforce Section 2 of the landmark civil rights law by only allowing the government to bring lawsuits under it. Such a change would make enforcement rare and subject to political control of state and federal government. With Republicans firmly opposed to the Voting Rights Act, the law would be moribund when they controlled state governments or the Department of Justice.

Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act forbids the adoption of district maps that lead to the denial or abridgement of the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color. Private parties have brought suit to enforce this section for decades in order to challenge discriminatory maps and election laws.

The case, however, is certain to be heard by the full 8th Circuit or appear before the Supreme Court. The ruling cuts against existing practice and precedent, including in the Supreme Courts months-old 2023 decision in Allen v. Milligan , and diverges from decisions in other circuits around the country.

This latest attempt to eviscerate the Voting Rights Act comes after Republicans in statehouses across the country enacted a wave of racially discriminatory legislative and congressional district maps following the 2020 census and the most conservative justices on the Supreme Court have invited legal efforts to kneecap the law.