BIG news today: the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a dangerous power grab by North Carolina politicians, issuing a historic pro-democracy ruling in our case of Moore v. Harper!

In December, our Common Cause NC team went to the U.S. Supreme Court to stop a radical ploy by North Carolina politicians who wanted to undermine our freedom to vote. Today’s historic victory makes clear that our state’s Constitution and our state courts must serve as a crucial check against abuses of power by the legislature, and we the people must have a voice in how federal elections are conducted in our state.

This is a huge win for the people of North Carolina and for American democracy!

The ruling is the culmination of our months-long fight to stop a radical scheme by Republican politicians in North Carolina who tried to obliterate our system of checks and balances. Those extremist politicians, led by NC House Speaker Tim Moore, wanted to seize control over our freedom to vote and dictate how federal elections would be conducted in our state. Today, we stopped them!

If Speaker Moore and his group had gotten their way, it would have been catastrophic for North Carolina and states across the country. It would have meant out-of-control, lawless lawmakers trampling on the rights of voters.

Thanks to our incredible legal team and our amazing Common Cause family, we defeated this brazen attack on our democracy!

This win is a tribute to the thousands of North Carolinians who turned out and spoke up at our #MapOurFuture grassroots tour that traveled across the state and all the way to Washington, D.C. to protect our democracy. Thank you!

This is a moment to celebrate – but there’s much more work to do. That’s because a new Republican majority on our state Supreme Court has already shattered legal norms and undercut the rights of North Carolinians. That new partisan majority on the NC Supreme Court earlier this year refused to recognize our constitutional protections against gerrymandering and gave Republican lawmakers a green light to try to rig our voting maps once again.

Today’s ruling by the United States Supreme Court affirms that the North Carolina Supreme Court has a duty to serve as a check against the legislature’s illegal gerrymandering. We call upon the new majority on the NC Supreme Court to take this ruling to heart and not be a rubber stamp for abuses by the politicians in the legislature.

We know legislators will likely attempt to radically gerrymander our voting maps again later this year. We’re already seeing politicians in the legislature trying to undermine voters and take control over our State Board of Elections with Senate Bill 747 and Senate Bill 749. We need your help to stop them.

Can I count on you to chip in to build on the success of today’s ruling and get ready to defeat the legislature’s next abuse of power?

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I’m grateful to our attorneys, our full Common Cause team, and our members across North Carolina who have stood with us throughout this fight all the way to our nation’s highest court.

I’m especially grateful to Becky Harper, whose name is on Moore v. Harper and who is a board member with Common Cause NC, for standing up for her fellow voters!

Today is a good day for democracy. Now let’s get to work to preserve this victory and protect everyone’s freedom to vote.

Onward!

– Bob Phillips, Executive Director
and the team at Common Cause North Carolina

P.S. You can learn more about Moore v. Harper and today’s ruling here.