Turtle Mountain Chippewa v. N. Dakota Legislative Assembly

Opinion

United States Court of Appeals For the Eighth Circuit

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No. 23-3697

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Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians; Spirit Lake Tribe; Wesley Davis;

Zachery S. King; Collette Brown

Plaintiffs - Appellees

v.

Michael Howe, in his Official Capacity as Secretary of State of North Dakota

Defendant - Appellee

North Dakota Legislative Assembly

Movant - Appellant

William R. Devlin, Representative also known as Bill Devlin; Senator Ray Holmberg, Representative; Senator Richard Wardner, Representative; Senator Nicole Poolman, Representative; Michael Nathe, Representative; Terry Jones, Representative; Claire Ness, Senior Counsel at the North Dakota Legislative Council

Movants

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No. 24-1171

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Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians; Spirit Lake Tribe; Wesley Davis;

Zachery S. King; Collette Brown

Plaintiffs - Appellees

v.

Michael Howe, in his Official Capacity as Secretary of State of North Dakota

Defendant - Appellee

North Dakota Legislative Assembly

Movant - Appellant

William R. Devlin, Representative also known as Bill Devlin; Senator Ray Holmberg, Representative; Senator Richard Wardner, Representative; Senator Nicole Poolman, Representative; Michael Nathe, Representative; Terry Jones, Representative; Claire Ness, Senior Counsel at the North Dakota Legislative Council

Movants

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Appeal from United States District Court for the District of North Dakota - Eastern

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Submitted: October 22, 2024 Filed: May 14, 2025

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Before COLLOTON, Chief Judge, GRUENDER and KOBES, Circuit Judges.

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GRUENDER, Circuit Judge.

The facts of this case are set out in Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians v. Howe, No. 23-3655, ___ F.4th ___ (8th Cir. May 14, 2025). In this appeal, North Dakota’s Legislative Assembly seeks to intervene in Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians v. Howe to appeal the district court’s order imposing the remedial map. Because we concluded in Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians v. Howe

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that the plaintiffs do not have a cause of action and, therefore, vacated the judgment of the district court, we dismiss this appeal as moot.

COLLOTON, Chief Judge, dissenting.

Having voted to affirm in No. 23-3655, I do not believe that these appeals should be dismissed as moot. I would affirm the district court’s order denying the North Dakota Legislative Assembly’s motion to intervene on the ground that the motion was untimely. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 24; United Food & Com. Workers Union, Local No. 663 v. U.S. Dep’t of Agric., 36 F.4th 777, 780 (8th Cir. 2022). I would affirm the district court’s order denying the Assembly’s motion for extension of time to file a remedial plan, because the Assembly was afforded a reasonable opportunity to submit a plan, and no party to the case sought an extension of time.

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