Supreme Court rejects novel legislative theory but leaves a door open for 2024 election challenges
By NICHOLAS RICCARDI and DAVID A. LIEB / AP / Politics
The
U.S. Supreme Court
shot down a controversial legal theory that could have changed the way
elections are run across the country but left the door open to more
limited challenges that could increase its role in deciding voting
disputes during the 2024 presidential election.
The court’s 6-3 ruling Tuesday
drove a stake through the most extreme version of the so-called
independent state legislature theory, which holds that legislatures have
absolute power in setting the rules of federal elections and cannot be
second-guessed by state courts. That decision cheered voting rights
groups.
“We beat back the most serious legal threat our democracy
has ever faced today,” said Kathay Feng of Common Cause, whose lawsuit
challenging congressional districts drawn by North Carolina’s
Republican-controlled legislature triggered the case.
But for some critics of the theory, the danger is not entirely past.
