PIERRE, S.D. - State lawmakers will not ask the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a federal judge's decision that redrew the boundaries of three South Dakota legislative districts in an American Indian voting rights case.

The Legislature's Executive Board decided not to pursue further appeals after Attorney General Larry Long advised lawmakers there was little chance the nation's highest court would hear the appeal, Sen. Ed Olson, R-Mitchell, chairman of the Executive Board, said Friday.

Olson said he believes the Legislature should have appealed the case because lawmakers will continue to face the same issues in the future when it is time to redraw district boundaries according to population shifts.

The Executive Board, which handles management issues for the Legislature, voted 8-5 to not pursue further appeals. An earlier motion in favor of an appeal failed by one vote.

U.S. District Judge Karen Schreier of Rapid City redrew the boundaries of the three legislative districts in an attempt to give American Indian voters a chance to elect more Indian candidates in an area that includes the Pine Ridge and Rosebud reservations.

Schreier ruled that the Legislature's 2001 redistricting plan violated the voting rights of Indians in the area, and a federal appeals court later upheld her ruling. Schreier established new districts in the area, and those new districts were used in Tuesday's elections.

The number of Indian lawmakers elected in the three-district area dropped by one in Tuesday's election. Rep. Paul Valandra, D-Mission, did not seek re-election and was replaced by a non-Indian. That replacement was former Rep. Larry Lucas, also a Democrat from Mission, who won many times under the old district configuration.

After the 2001 Legislature approved a redistricting plan, four Indian voters filed a lawsuit alleging that the plan violated the federal Voting Rights Act. The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit on behalf of Indian voters.

Schreier ruled in 2004 that the Legislature's redistricting plan illegally put too many Indians in District 27, which for many years had included the Rosebud Indian Reservation and the main part of the Pine Ridge Indian reservation. Nearly 90 percent of those living in the district, which covered Shannon and Todd counties and a connecting strip across southern Bennett County, were Indians.

Schreier found that the illegal packing of District 27 diluted Indian voting strength in an adjoining district.

The judge drew district boundaries that put the Rosebud and Pine Ridge reservations in different legislative districts. The changes ordered in District 26 and District 27 also required adjustments in adjoining District 21 to make the district populations nearly equal.

Schreier has already ordered the state to pay the ACLU more than $641,000 in legal fees and costs in the case.