WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court should reject the dangerous and fringe independent state legislature theory (ISLT) presented in 무어 대 하퍼 regardless of the highly unusual decision by the North Carolina Supreme Court to rehear the remedial decision in 하퍼 대 홀, 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 하퍼 2세,” 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 하퍼 2세, that issue will remain live before this Court.”

여기서 전체 추가 브리핑 편지를 읽어보세요.

The U.S. Supreme Court requested supplemental briefing in 무어 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 하퍼 대 홀. That decision, 하퍼 2세, 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, 하퍼 1세, 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 무어.

Oral arguments in 무어 took place on December 7, 2022. At that time, the N.C. Supreme Court had already rejected gamesmanship in mapmaking in 하퍼 2세 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 하퍼 1세 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 무어 case. The supplemental brief filed today by Hogan Lovells의 파트너인 Neal Kumar Katyal 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 무어:

“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.”

투표권 옹호자들은 다음과 같이 요구했습니다. 무어의 ISLT 주장은 민주주의에 대한 심각한 위협입니다. 이 이론을 지지하는 입법자들은 미국 헌법의 선거 조항을 왜곡하여 주 의회만이 연방 지구 지도를 어떻게 그릴지 결정할 권한이 있으며, 나아가 주 법원은 그 과정에 개입할 수 없으며, 그들의 권력을 강화하려는 입법자 그룹의 의지에 반하는 경우 주 헌법을 시행할 수 없다고 주장합니다.

“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 무어 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 SCSJ의 투표권 담당 수석 변호사, 힐러리 해리스 클라인. “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.”

결정 무어 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.”

미디어 연락처:
Sarah Ovaska | 소바스카@commoncause.org | 919-606-6112
Bryan Warner | bwarner@commoncause.org | 919-836-0027
Melissa Boughton | 멜리사@scsj.org | 830-481-6901

공통 원인 미국 민주주의의 핵심 가치를 옹호하는 비당파적 풀뿌리 조직입니다. 우리는 공익을 위해 봉사하는 개방적이고 정직하며 책임감 있는 정부를 만들고, 모든 사람을 위한 평등한 권리, 기회 및 대표를 촉진하고, 모든 사람이 정치 과정에서 자신의 목소리를 낼 수 있도록 힘을 실어줍니다.

2007년에 설립된 Southern Coalition for Social Justice는 남부의 유색인종 커뮤니티와 경제적으로 불리한 커뮤니티와 협력하여 법적 옹호, 연구, 조직 및 커뮤니케이션을 결합하여 정치적, 사회적, 경제적 권리를 방어하고 증진합니다. 자세한 내용은 다음에서 확인하세요. southerncoalition.org 그리고 우리의 작업을 따르십시오 지저귀다, 페이스북, 그리고 인스타그램.