North Carolina’s election lawsuit, which was kept under careful observation, is now submitted to the United States Supreme Court and also has the potential to set the 2024 presidential elections upside down.
According to the New Yorker report:
“Conservative Supreme Court justices appeared skeptical about a state court’s decision to strike down Republican-drawn congressional districts in North Carolina but it seemed unlikely a majority would embrace a broad theory that could upend election law nationwide. The appeal brought by North Carolina Republicans asks the court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, to embrace a hitherto obscure legal argument called the ‘independent state legislature theory,’ which could strip state courts of the power to strike down certain election laws enacted by state legislatures.”
The report added:
“The independent state legislature argument hinges on language in the Constitution that says election rules ‘shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature thereof.’ Supporters of the theory, which has never been endorsed by the Supreme Court, say the language supports the notion that, when it comes to federal election rules, legislatures have ultimate power under state law, potentially irrespective of potential constraints imposed by state constitutions.”
The report continued:
“Backed by Republican leaders at the N.C. General Assembly, the crux of the argument is that they and all other state legislators should have much broader power to write election laws, with courts mostly not allowed to stop them by ruling their actions unconstitutional. They’ve been tight-lipped about the case since filing it this spring, mostly preferring to avoid commenting on it to reporters and instead doing their talking through legal briefs. Beyond redistricting the case also has the potential to change how North Carolina and the 49 other states handle everything from early voting and mail-in ballots rules to voter ID, recounts, post-election audits, and anything else that could possibly affect an election.”
Though, another significant turn of events occurred.
The Supreme Court of North Carolina which has been recently taken over by Republicans will soon be hearing a significant redistricting case again. This decision will be one of the biggest of this year.
According to the Washington monthly report:
“The North Carolina high court’s impudence has national implications. If the court reverses its previous rulings, the Moore v. Harper case, pending before the U.S. Supreme Court, could be rendered moot. That case addresses the independent state legislature theory, which suggests that a state constitution cannot limit a state legislature when it determines the rules for federal elections. The theory would give state legislatures free rein to impose restrictive voting laws even if they violate the state constitution. As election law professor Rick Hasen notes, mooting that case could have devastating consequences if the issue arises again in the context of a disputed presidential election.”
Democrats these days are now debating furiously and they are claiming that it might “end democracy.”
Leader of the anti-gerrymandering group Common Cause, Kathay Feng, called it “the case of the century.”
She stated:
“It is a case that asserts a bizarre and fabricated reading of the United States Constitution … to create a situation where elections are already rigged from the start.”
A Democrat and previous U.S. attorney general under Barack Obama stated:
“It should keep every American up at night.”
A GOP member and retired federal judge, Michael Luttig, has claimed it as “the single most important case on American democracy” of the past 250 years.
