SCOTUS could empower state legislatures' control over elections

[Septua]

This is scarier than Trump World...

https://www.npr.org/2022/06/30/1107648753/supreme-court-north-carolina-redistricting-independent-state-legislature-theory

In their appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, however, the Republican lawmakers argue that the U.S. Constitution's Elections Clause gives state legislatures the power to determine how congressional elections are conducted without any checks and balances from state constitutions or state courts.

Based on this independent state legislature theory, they contend that the North Carolina state courts' decision to throw out and replace the legislature-drawn map violates the federal constitution — an argument that radically departs from the U.S. Supreme Court's historical record of deferring to state courts on how state constitutions and laws should be interpreted.

A Supreme Court endorsement of the theory could upend elections laws across the U.S.
The high court declined in March to weigh in on an emergency request for this case, but in a dissenting opinion, three of the court's conservatives – Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas – signaled they would likely side with the Republican lawmakers' embrace of this theory.

[msfiddlestix]

1. We can take that to the bank. while we lose our shirts.

you can count on that outcome.

Unclee Clarence and Don Alito will make sure of it.

[leftieNanner]

2. I had to stay up way past midnight last night

Watching stupid television because of this. I couldn't sleep.

After all the terrible damage these fundamentalist jihadists did to us this week, hearing about this case to be taken up in the next term made me PANIC.

[In It to Win It]

4. When I saw yesterday morning that they granted cert

on this ridiculous case, I felt like my heart dropped. It was a real "oh shit" moment. I'm terrified if the Court agrees with this insanity.

[leftieNanner]

7. Just after they allowed Louisiana to use

Their deliberate racially gerrymandered congressional map.

John Roberts like to pretend to be a reasonable guy. He's not.

[In It to Win It]

9. He voted our way maybe once, twice...

That's not reasonable enough for me.

Alito, on the Texas social media case, was basically saying the Court shouldn't have disturbed the 5th circuit's "informed judgement" on putting a stay on enforcement of that law. However, maps that violate federal election law and rules that affects people's basic voting rights somehow is up for grabs and is available to block.

[Lovie777]

3. So, voters in the red states votes, and if party in power doesn't like the outcome . ..

can overturn the will of the people? And no state court can do anything about it?

That not democracy.

And again the GQP do not know how to govern fairly. They fuck it up and Democrats have to come un and try to clean and fix it.

[hedda_foil]

12. Lovie, the thing is that they don't WANT to govern fairly.

Fairness has nothing at all to do with their achieving their goal of total rule. If they succeed, the country we have known and loved will be gone forever. What we consider "the American way of life" will be reserved for a small number of obedient apparatchiks -- think Steven Miller. The rest of us get a theocratic autocracy that's run by Trump or DeSantis for the benefit Charles Koch and his donor network.

[BootinUp]

5. Seems like a huge over-reach even for these

ideologues.

[In It to Win It]

6. Then they shouldn't have granted cert

[BootinUp]

10. Not sure I follow. Granting it a hearing

Is not deciding it last I checked. Not much point in arguing who knows the future. I don’t.

[In It to Win It]

11. The decision would be

in not taking the case in the first place, and not giving this crackpot theory any chance of being the law of the land. Denying their petition leaves us with the status quo as the final decision, and not a potential grenade to the system.

[questionseverything]

8. "The family " thinks they are doing it for the greater good

So to them it doesn’t matter what horrid, horrible thing they do to get there

[LetMyPeopleVote]

13. There is a possibility we may have seen our last fair and free presidential election

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