WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court should reject the dangerous and fringe independent state legislature theory (ISLT) presented in Moore laban kay Harper regardless of the highly unusual decision by the North Carolina Supreme Court to rehear the remedial decision in Harper v. Hall, 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 Harper II,” 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 Harper II, that issue will remain live before this Court.”

Basahin ang buong supplemental briefing letter dito.

The U.S. Supreme Court requested supplemental briefing in Moore 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 Harper v. Hall. That decision, Harper II, 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 Moore.

Oral arguments in Moore took place on December 7, 2022. At that time, the N.C. Supreme Court had already rejected gamesmanship in mapmaking in Harper II 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 Moore case. The supplemental brief filed today by Neal Kumar Katyal, isang kasosyo sa Hogan Lovells 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 Moore:

“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.”

Ang mga tagapagtaguyod ng mga karapatan sa pagboto ay tumawag kay Moore ISLT argumento isang matinding banta sa demokrasya. Ang mga mambabatas na sumasang-ayon sa teoryang ito ay binabaluktot ang Elections Clause sa Konstitusyon ng US upang igiit na ang mga lehislatura ng estado lamang ang may kapangyarihang tukuyin kung paano dapat iguhit ang mga mapa ng pederal na distrito, at higit pa rito na ang mga korte ng estado ay hindi maaaring makialam sa prosesong iyon, o ang mga konstitusyon ng estado ay ipinapatupad kung sila ay salungat sa kagustuhan ng isang grupo ng mga mambabatas na naghahangad na patatagin ang kanilang kapangyarihan.

“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 Moore 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 Hilary Harris Klein, Senior Counsel para sa Mga Karapatan sa Pagboto sa 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.”

Isang desisyon sa Moore 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.”

Mga Contact sa Media:
Sarah Ovaska | sovaska@commoncause.org | 919-606-6112
Bryan Warner | bwarner@commoncause.org | 919-836-0027
Melissa Boughton | melissa@scsj.org | 830-481-6901

Karaniwang Dahilan ay isang nonpartisan, grassroots na organisasyon na nakatuon sa pagtataguyod ng mga pangunahing halaga ng demokrasya ng Amerika. Nagtatrabaho kami upang lumikha ng bukas, tapat, at may pananagutan na pamahalaan na nagsisilbi sa interes ng publiko; itaguyod ang pantay na karapatan, pagkakataon, at representasyon para sa lahat; at bigyan ng kapangyarihan ang lahat ng tao na iparinig ang kanilang mga boses sa prosesong pampulitika.

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