Supreme Court agrees to hear high-stakes election law clash
The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to review an effort by Republican lawmakers in North Carolina to advance a sweeping legal theory that, if successful, could hand state legislatures broad new powers over how voting maps are drawn and federal elections conducted.
Viewed narrowly, the case is an appeal from a state court’s ruling that a new Republican-drawn North Carolina voting map amounted to an illegal partisan gerrymander.
But the breadth of the legal argument put forth by the Republican challengers raises the stakes of the case considerably, legal experts say.
“An extreme version of the theory would shut down state courts’ ability to rein in partisan gerrymandering and protect voters’ rights in federal elections,” said Rick Hasen, a professor at UCLA Law.
The justices will hear the case next term, which begins in October, with a decision likely in 2023. Arguments have not yet been scheduled.
The Republican challengers in the case have urged the justices to rule in their favor by finding that the Constitution’s Elections Clause hands state legislatures near total control over how federal elections are carried out in their state, a theory known as the “independent state legislature doctrine.”
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