WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court should reject the dangerous and fringe independent state legislature theory (ISLT) presented in 摩尔诉哈珀 regardless of the highly unusual decision by the North Carolina Supreme Court to rehear the remedial decision in 哈珀诉霍尔, 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 哈珀二世,” 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 哈珀二世, that issue will remain live before this Court.”

请在此处阅读完整的补充简报信。

The U.S. Supreme Court requested supplemental briefing in 摩尔 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 哈珀诉霍尔. That decision, 哈珀二世, 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 摩尔.

Oral arguments in 摩尔 took place on December 7, 2022. At that time, the N.C. Supreme Court had already rejected gamesmanship in mapmaking in 哈珀二世 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 摩尔 case. The supplemental brief filed today by Neal Kumar Katyal，Hogan Lovells 合伙人 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 摩尔:

“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.”

投票权利倡导者呼吁 摩尔 ISLT 论证对民主构成了严重威胁。支持这一理论的立法者曲解了美国宪法中的选举条款，声称只有州立法机构才有权决定如何绘制联邦区地图，而且州法院不能干预这一过程，如果州宪法与一群试图巩固权力的立法者的意愿相悖，州宪法就无法执行。

“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 摩尔 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 希拉里·哈里斯·克莱恩 (Hilary Harris Klein)，SCSJ 投票权高级顾问. “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.”

一项决定 摩尔 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.”

媒体联系人：
Sarah Ovaska | sovaska@commoncause.org | 919-606-6112
布莱恩·华纳 | bwarner@commoncause.org | 919-836-0027
梅丽莎·鲍顿 | melissa@scsj.org | 830-481-6901

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