WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court should reject the dangerous and fringe independent state legislature theory (ISLT) presented in مور ضد هاربر regardless of the highly unusual decision by the North Carolina Supreme Court to rehear the remedial decision in هاربر ضد هول, according to a new plaintiff’s letter responding to the high court.

“This Court retains jurisdiction over this case regardless of the outcome of the North Carolina Supreme Court’s rehearing proceedings in هاربر الثاني,” the letter states. “Petitioners ask this Court to decide whether state courts can play any role in adjudicating congressional redistricting maps. No matter how the North Carolina Supreme Court rules on rehearing of هاربر الثاني, that issue will remain live before this Court.”

اقرأ الرسالة التكميلية الكاملة هنا.

The U.S. Supreme Court requested supplemental briefing in مور on March 2, 2023, asking parties what the effect was on its jurisdiction following the North Carolina Supreme Court’s rehearing of the December 16, 2022, decision in هاربر ضد هول. That decision, هاربر الثاني, considered whether the remedial maps used in the 2022 election were still unconstitutional partisan gerrymanders.

The North Carolina Supreme Court’s earlier February 2022 opinion, Harper I, struck down the original 2021 state legislative and congressional maps enacted by the North Carolina legislature as unconstitutional gerrymanders, and is the decision that was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court in مور.

Oral arguments in مور took place on December 7, 2022. At that time, the N.C. Supreme Court had already rejected gamesmanship in mapmaking in هاربر الثاني by ruling the partisan gerrymandering disproportionately and unconstitutionally came at the expense of minority voters in the state. Once the North Carolina court changed partisan composition in early 2023 however, it granted a rehearing of the later remedial decision issued in December at Republican legislators’ request. The time for rehearing Harper I is long past, but legislators have asked the North Carolina Supreme Court to overrule that decision as well.

Some court watchers have questioned whether the move in North Carolina would moot the مور case. The supplemental brief filed today by نيل كومار كاتيال، شريك في شركة هوجان لوفيلز and co-counsel with Southern Coalition for Social Justice (SCSJ) representing Plaintiff Common Cause, set forth why the state proceedings do not change the Supreme Court’s ability to issue a decision in مور:

“This Court should not wait until this question comes before it on an emergency basis in the lead up to the 2024 election cycle,” wrote Katyal, who also argued the case before the U.S. Supreme Court Justices in December 2022. “The question presented is fully briefed, thoroughly argued, and ripe for decision. This Court is the only forum that can definitively resolve that question and provide guidance to state legislatures and state courts across the country.”

ودعا المدافعون عن حقوق التصويت مور إن حجة ISLT تشكل تهديداً خطيراً للديمقراطية. إن المشرعين الذين يعتنقون هذه النظرية يحرفون بند الانتخابات في دستور الولايات المتحدة ليؤكدوا أن الهيئات التشريعية للولايات وحدها لديها السلطة لتحديد كيفية رسم خرائط الدوائر الفيدرالية، وعلاوة على ذلك فإن محاكم الولايات لا يمكنها التدخل في هذه العملية، ولا يمكن إنفاذ دساتير الولايات إذا كانت تتعارض مع إرادة مجموعة من المشرعين الذين يسعون إلى ترسيخ سلطتهم.

“We knew from the start this brazen power grab was wrong and flew in the faces of the U.S and North Carolina Constitutions,” said Bob Phillips, Common Cause North Carolina’s Executive Director. “Nothing has changed on that front. We need the U.S. Supreme Court to toss this nonsensical ‘independent state legislature theory’ into the dustbin where it belongs — and there is no better time than now when we aren’t on the eve of a major election.”

Oral arguments in مور lasted three and a half hours, a lengthy period of time in which the U.S. Supreme Court Justices examined the flimsy legal underpinnings of the dangerous ISLT that would erode people’s voting rights.

“ISLT was wrong when this matter was briefed and argued before the Supreme Court in 2022, and it remains wrong in 2023,” said هيلاري هاريس كلاين، المستشارة الأولى لحقوق التصويت في SCSJ. “Nothing that has happened in the state proceedings has changed this fact, and the arguments and briefing show definitively that voters deserve an unambiguous rejection of this dangerous theory by our country’s highest court.”

قرار في مور is expected early this summer.

“Checks and balances were embedded throughout our Constitution to prevent any one person, group or political party from unjustly seizing power that rightly belongs to the people,” said Kathay Feng, Common Cause’s Vice-President for Programs. “The U.S. Supreme Court, when they release their decision in a few months, must reject this reckless attempt to hand state lawmakers unchecked power to manipulate our elections.”

جهات الاتصال الإعلامية:
Sarah Ovaska | سوفاسكا@commoncause.org | 919-606-6112
بريان وارنر | بوارنر@commoncause.org | 919-836-0027
ميليسا بوجتون | ميليسا@scsj.org | 830-481-6901

سبب مشترك هي منظمة شعبية غير حزبية مكرسة لدعم القيم الأساسية للديمقراطية الأمريكية. نحن نعمل على إنشاء حكومة منفتحة وصادقة وخاضعة للمساءلة تخدم المصلحة العامة؛ وتعزيز المساواة في الحقوق والفرص والتمثيل للجميع؛ وتمكين جميع الناس من إسماع أصواتهم في العملية السياسية.

تأسست منظمة التحالف الجنوبي للعدالة الاجتماعية في عام 2007، وهي تتعاون مع مجتمعات الملونين والمجتمعات المحرومة اقتصاديًا في الجنوب للدفاع عن حقوقهم السياسية والاجتماعية والاقتصادية وتعزيزها من خلال الجمع بين المناصرة القانونية والبحث والتنظيم والاتصالات. تعرف على المزيد على تحالف الجنوب وتابع عملنا على تغريد, فيسبوك، و انستجرام.