HuffPost: Republicans Ask Supreme Court To Back A Radical Theory On Voting Rights
HuffPost: Republicans Ask Supreme Court To Back A Radical Theory On Voting Rights
Republicans in North Carolina and Pennsylvania asked the U.S. Supreme Court in the past week to block congressional maps drawn by their state courts. In doing so, they want the high court to endorse a radical legal theory that could upend redistricting across the country and potentially imperil voting rights.
In North Carolina, Republicans are appealing a map drawn by their state’s Supreme Court after it ruled that the map drawn by the legislature was a partisan gerrymander that violated the state constitution. In Pennsylvania, Republicans are challenging a map drawn by state courts after Gov. Tom Wolf (D) vetoed the map drawn by the GOP legislature.
Both emergency applications claim that the U.S. Constitution gives state legislatures the sole independent right to set the “time, place, and manner” of holding federal elections, and that it provides no role for state courts. That power ranges from the drawing of congressional districts to the writing of election laws regarding voter registration, identification, polling locations and so on.
If adopted, this theory ― known as the independent state legislature doctrine ― would eviscerate one of the last remaining checks on partisan gerrymandering, by cutting state courts out of the role they play in enforcing the election clauses of state constitutions. …
Both emergency applications claim that the U.S. Constitution gives state legislatures the sole independent right to set the “time, place, and manner” of holding federal elections, and that it provides no role for state courts. That power ranges from the drawing of congressional districts to the writing of election laws regarding voter registration, identification, polling locations and so on.
If adopted, this theory ― known as the independent state legislature doctrine ― would eviscerate one of the last remaining checks on partisan gerrymandering, by cutting state courts out of the role they play in enforcing the election clauses of state constitutions. …
“If we can say only legislatures are able to make laws regarding the time, place, manner of elections, and courts don’t have any ability to change or constrain those laws, we’re really looking at a significant change in the balance of power between the three branches of state governments, as well as the level of intervention from federal courts in state lawmaking,” said Suzanne Almeida, redistricting counsel for Common Cause, a nonpartisan nonprofit involved in both the North Carolina and Pennsylvania cases.