June 27, 2023
Moore v Harper
The Supreme Court has just issued a ruling that rejected a fringe theory that could have upended the way elections are handled in this country and preserves your right to challenge your state legislature’s election decisions in court…just in time for the 2024 Presidential election.
This morning the Justices handed down their ruling on a case that so many of you were concerned about — the controversial Moore vs Harper case out of North Carolina. They absolutely rejected the independent state legislature theory that many conservatives have been pushing for years including supporters of former President Trump.
And the ruling wasn’t even close – it was six to three with the Chief Justice John Roberts writing the majority opinion and being joined by the three liberal justices Sotomayor, Kagan and Jackson plus two conservative justices Kavanaugh and Barrett.
So let me catch you up on the case if you don’t remember the details. I told you in this video last year — the North Carolina state legislature had appealed a North Carolina Supreme Court ruling that said a congressional district map they drew was extremely gerrymandered and therefore unlawful under the state’s constitution. The lawmakers were arguing that the United States constitution in two separate places – Article 1 Section 4 and Article 2 Section 1 – explicitly gave them full control to conduct federal elections in their state and create election rules in their state with no check on that power from anyone including the governor or even the courts. In extreme cases, under the independent state legislature theory – a state legislature unhappy with the outcome of an election could simply declare it tainted, nullify the results and award state electors to whichever Presidential candidate it wanted. And no governor or court could do anything about it.
Well today – the justices said not so fast. In his opinion the Chief Justice says the United States constitution’s election clause that I just outlined for you– “does not insulate state legislatures from the ordinary exercise of state judicial review” basically he said the founders of this country believed in checks and balances. And those checks and balances apply to state legislatures too. The Supreme Court said the people through the courts should be able to challenge their legislature’s election decisions.
Now – the Supreme Court also said in today’s ruling — that state courts do *not* have unlimited power over legislatures when it comes to election rules and decisions. The Justices stopped short of adopting a new test or rule for courts to follow – instead they just said state courts need to stay within the boundaries of ordinary judicial review.
Supreme court ruling on Moore vs. Harper here
