8th Circuit decides N.D. case Tuesday, June 6, 2023

The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit has issued an opinion in a North Dakota case.

In In Re: North Dakota Legislative Assembly the court explained that several current or former members of the North Dakota Legislative Assembly and a legislative aide seek relief from district court orders directing them to comply with subpoenas for documents or testimony in a civil case brought against the state alleging violations of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Petitioners assert a claim of legislative privilege and the conditions for assertion of the privilege are plainly satisfied here; the writ is granted in part, and the district court is directed to quash the subpoenas for petitioner Devlin to testify and for petitioners Holmberg, Wardner, Poolman, Nathe, Devlin, and Ness to produce documents and other information; the petition is denied as to the subpoena for petitioner Jones to produce documents as the district court enforced that subpoena on the alternative ground that Jones waived his legislative privilege by testifying at a preliminary injunction hearing in another case concerning redistricting.

Read the court's opinion at: http://media.ca8.uscourts.gov/opndir/23/06/231600P.pdf