“Confirmed Judges, Confirmed Fears” is a blog series documenting the harmful impact of President Trump’s judges on Americans’ rights and liberties. It includes judges nominated in both his first and second terms.
Trump Eighth Circuit judge Steven Grasz wrote a unanimous decision that reversed a lower court and ruled that voters with disabilities cannot sue under the Voting Rights Act to obtain assistance in voting as the Act provides. The July 2025 decision was in Arkansas United v Thurston.
What happened in this case?
Arkansas has a law that limits someone who wants to help blind or other voters with disabilities pursuant to the Voting Rights Act to assisting a maximum of six voters. A voting rights group and voters sued and a district court agreed, ruling for them on summary judgment.
The state appealed the case to the Eighth Circuit.
How did Trump judge Grasz and the Eighth Circuit majority rule and why is it harmful?
Trump judge Grasz wrote a unanimous decision that reversed the lower court and ruled that private lawsuits cannot be filed to enforce the right of voters with disabilities to assistance at the polls under 208 of the Voting Rights Act. The other judges included Geroge W Bush nominee Raymond Gruender and George HW Bush nominee James Loken. The ruling relied heavily on the Eighth Circuit decision in the Arkansas NAACP case, which held that only the US and not private voters can file suits to enforce Section 2 of the Act.
Experts have already criticized the Section 208 decision. As Sophia Lakin, director of the ACLU Voting Rights project has commented, the ruling is “completely at odds with decades of precedent” and the “text, history and purpose” of the Act.
Unless it is reversed, Grasz’s decision will harm voters at least throughout the Eighth Circuit, which includes Arkansas as well as Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. In addition, the case illustrates the importance of our federal courts to health, welfare and justice and the significance of having fair-minded judges on the federal bench.