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A2 UP FRONT
Monday 20 June 2022
Justices seem poised to hear elections case pressed by GOP
Continued from Front national implications.” wrote that it is time for the
The court could say as early Supreme Court to weigh in
Many election law experts as Tuesday, or perhaps the on the elections clause in
are alarmed by the pros- following week, whether the U.S. Constitution, which
pect that the justices might it will hear an appeal filed gives each state’s legisla-
seek to reduce state courts’ by North Carolina Republi- ture the responsibility to de-
powers over elections. cans. termine “the times, places
“A ruling endorsing a strong The appeal challenges a and manner” of holding
or muscular reading of the state court ruling that threw congressional elections.
independent state legisla- out the congressional dis- “Activist judges and allied
ture theory would poten- tricts drawn by the General plaintiffs have proved time
tially give state legislatures Assembly that made GOP and time again that they
even more power to curtail candidates likely victors in believe state courts have
voting rights and provide 10 of the state’s 14 con- the ultimate say over con-
a pathway for litigation to gressional districts. gressional maps, no matter
subvert the election out- The North Carolina Su- what the U.S. Constitution
comes expressing the will preme Court held that the says,” North Carolina Sen-
of the people,” law profes- Members of the Supreme Court pose for a group photo at the boundaries violated state ate leader Phil Berger said
sor Richard Hasen wrote in Supreme Court in Washington, April 23, 2021. Seated from left constitution provisions pro- when the appeal was filed
an email. are Associate Justice Samuel Alito, Associate Justice Clarence tecting free elections and in March.
But if the justices are going Thomas, Chief Justice John Roberts, Associate Justice Stephen freedoms of speech and The Supreme Court gener-
to get involved, Hasen said, Breyer and Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Standing from association by handicap- ally does not disturb state
“it does make sense for the left are Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Associate Justice ping voters who support court rulings that are root-
Court to do it outside the Elena Kagan, Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch and Associate Democrats. ed in state law.
Justice Amy Coney Barrett.
context of an election with Associated Press The new map that eventu- But four Supreme Court jus-
ally emerged and is being tices — Clarence Thomas,
used this year gives Demo- Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch
crats a good chance to and Kavanaugh — have
win six seats, and possibly said the court should step
a seventh in a new toss-up in to decide whether state
district. courts had improperly tak-
Pennsylvania’s top court en powers given by the U.S.
also selected a map that Constitution to state law-
Republicans say probably makers.
will lead to the election of That was the argument
more Democrats, as the that Thomas and two other
two parties battle for con- conservative justices put
trol of the U.S. House in the forward in Bush v. Gore, al-
midterm elections in No- though that case was de-
vember. cided on other grounds.
An appeal from Pennsyl- If the court takes up the
vania also is waiting, if the North Carolina case and
court for some reason pass- rules in the GOP’s favor,
es on the North Carolina North Carolina Repub-
case. licans could draw new
Nationally, the parties maps for 2024 elections
fought to a draw in redis- with less worry that the
tricting, which leaves Re- state Supreme Court would
publicans positioned to win strike them down.
control of the House even if Defenders of state court in-
they come up just short of volvement argue that state
winning a majority of the lawmakers would also gain
national vote. the power to pass provi-
If the GOP does well in sions that would suppress
November, the party also voting, subject only to
could capture seats on challenge in federal courts.
state supreme courts, in- Delegating power to elec-
cluding in North Carolina, tion boards and secretaries
that might allow for the of state to manage federal
drawing of more slanted elections in emergencies
maps that previous courts also could be questioned
rejected. legally, some scholars said.
Two court seats held by “Its adoption would radi-
North Carolina Democrats cally change our elec-
are on the ballot this year tions,” Ethan Herenstein
and Republicans need to and Tom Wolf, both with
win just one to take control the Brennan Center’s De-
of the court for the first time mocracy Program at the
since 2017. New York University Law
In their appeal to the na- School, wrote earlier this
tion’s high court, North month.q
Carolina Republicans
