With the 2024 election campaign already underway, the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday wisely rejected a pernicious legal theory that could have made it even easier for partisan majorities in state legislatures to achieve an unfair advantage in congressional elections. The 6-3 decision in a case from North Carolina dealt a serious blow to the so-called independent state legislature doctrine under which state supreme courts would be powerless to review gerrymandered congressional maps or other aspects of congressional elections.
In 2022, North Carolina’s Supreme Court struck down a congressional map drawn by Republican state legislators, holding that it unfairly favored the GOP in violation of several provisions of the state constitution. Among them is a command that all elections “shall be free,” which the court interpreted to mean that “every vote must count equally.”
In appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court, Republican state legislative leaders pointed to the Elections Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which says that the “times, places and manner” of congressional elections shall be prescribed by state legislatures (subject to an override by Congress).
