WASHINGTON — Democrats took an immediate victory lap Tuesday morning after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an election theory from North Carolina’s Republican legislative leaders that would have allowed them to give their party an upper hand in future elections.
North Carolina Republicans had argued that state courts shouldn’t be allowed to meddle in the rules legislators passed regarding elections for federal office. Had the justices upheld that legal theory, the U.S. would have lost a set of checks and balances on the laws state legislators passed in regards to federal elections.
Because of this, Moore v. Harper became a high-stakes, controversial case watched nationwide.
Unlike Democrats, Republicans remained mostly quiet in the first hour after the ruling came out.
The News & Observer caught up with North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore, a party to the case, in the Legislative Building on Tuesday morning. He said no matter what party is in power when redistricting happens, lawsuits will be filed.
“I guess at the end of the day, kind of like I predicted before we ever had this: It probably wouldn’t have much of an effect because our state Supreme Court had already ruled,” Moore said. “Obviously, we would’ve liked to have had an outright win before the U.S. Supreme Court. But, under the circumstances, we think it’s a push at best.”
Biden White House, Obama, Holder on Moore v Harper
A spokesperson for President Joe Biden addressed the case at a press briefing Tuesday.
“We’re pleased that the Supreme Court rejected the extreme legal theory presented in this case, which would’ve interfered with state governments, which would’ve opened the door for politicians to undermine the will of the people, and would’ve threatened the freedom of all Americans to have their voices heard at the ballot box,” White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Olivia Dalton told reporters.
Former President Barack Obama released a statement almost immediately after the court released the justices’ opinion.
“This ruling is a resounding rejection of the far-right theory that has been peddled by election deniers and extremists seeking to undermine our democracy,” Obama said. “And it makes clear that courts can continue to defending voters’ rights — in North Carolina and in every state.”
Former Attorney General Eric Holder was right behind Obama with a statement of his own calling Tuesday’s ruling a victory and saying that the Supreme Court preserved a vital role state courts play in protecting free elections and fair maps.
“Make no mistake, this appeal and the truly fringe, truly ideological theory it espouses should never have been brought before our nation’s highest tribunal in the first place, and its demonstrates the lengths to which too many in the Republican Party are willing to go in order to bend — even break — our democracy in order to hold onto illegitimate power,” Holder said. “As the North Carolina legislature revisits the redistricting maps, it should keep in mind that the purpose of a legislative body is to represent and make real the will of the people. Plain and simple.”
Following the release of 2020 census data, North Carolina lawmakers redrew the congressional, state House and Senate districts. In the U.S. House, they created a map that the then-Democratic-majority North Carolina Supreme Court said gave Republicans an unfair advantage.
After a back-and-forth between the courts and lawmakers, a court-ordered map led to an evenly divided number of seven Democrats and Republicans each being elected from North Carolina in the U.S. House.
Congress, activists react to Supreme Court decision
Democrats from North Carolina’s congressional delegation reacted quickly to the news.
Rep. Kathy Manning, a Democrat from Greensboro, is one of the more vulnerable members of Congress representing North Carolina. While the urban Greensboro area has more voters who are Democrats, it’s surrounded by Republican areas that could dilute her voting base.
She said she was glad to see the Supreme Court “debunk” the independent state legislature theory.
“Now, Congress must work to enact federal election standards so that no voter is disenfranchised by partisan gerrymandering,” Manning said.
Common Cause’s vice president of programs, Kathay Feng, echoed Manning’s call to action Tuesday, saying that Congress needs to pass long-overdue protections for voters to end persistent attempts to undermine and restrict voting rights.
Rep. Deborah Ross said a branch of government should not have unchecked power over elections and called the independent state legislature theory extreme.
“The people of North Carolina are tired of Republican politicians attempting to silence their voices through partisan gerrymandering,” Ross said. “Now more than ever, we must continue the fight to protect and expand the rights of all voters, especially at a time when state legislatures in our state and across the country are seeking to undercut the pillars of American democracy for political gain.”
Rep. Wiley Nickel, a Democrat who lives in Cary and represents the state’s only true swing district, said voters should choose who represents them.
“Politicians shouldn’t choose their voters,” Nickel said. “And I’ll continue to do everything I can to protect the right to vote for every single North Carolinian.”
Rep. Alma Adams, a Democrat from Charlotte, said on Twitter that justices offered legislators good advice in saying that the constitution does not exempt state legislatures from the ordinary constraints imposed by state law.”
Elections attorney Marc Elias was among the first to react to news that the Supreme Court rejected the controversial elections theory.
“In its most extreme form, the Independent State Legislature Theory could have weakened the foundation of our democracy, removing a crucial check on state legislatures and making it easier for rogue legislators to enact policies that suppress voters and subvert elections without adequate oversight from state court,” Elias said. “We are incredibly relieved that the Supreme Court decisively rejected this dangerous theory.”
Dan Crawford, director of government relations for the North Carolina League of Conservation Voters, a party in the case, said his group has been fighting since 2021 to protect free and fair elections.
His comments focused on a decision by the newly elected N.C. Supreme Court, which decided to overturn the previous court’s decision calling the congressional maps unconstitutional.
“This (Tuesday’s ruling) draws into sharp contrast the blatantly partisan decision by the North Carolina Supreme Court to concede total power to the legislature to select their own voters,” Crawford said. “Without the ability for every voter to choose their representatives, our environment and all North Carolinians will be at risk to deep-pocketed polluters and power-hungry politicians.”
Ari Savitzky, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project, said the Supreme Court was right to reject the “misbegotten independent state legislature theory.”
“In our system, there is no room for a rogue legislature that can violate its own founding charter without any checks from other branches of government,” Savitzky said. “This radical theory is totally contrary to the bedrock principle of checks and balances, and the court has correctly relegated it to the dustbin of history. The court’s decision confirms the important role of state courts and state constitutions in ensuring fair elections and protecting the right to vote for all.”
Maps will be redrawn in fall
Gov. Roy Cooper said called the opinion “a good decision,” saying it both curbed the power of Republican state legislatures and affirms the need for checks and balances.
“But Republican legislators in North Carolina and across the country remain a very real threat to democracy as they continue to pass laws to manipulate elections for partisan gain by interfering with the freedom to vote,” the Democratic governor added in a written statement.
Attorney General Josh Stein, who is running to replace Cooper as governor once Cooper hits his term limit in 2024, called the decision a big win but said the work isn’t over.
“The people won,” Stein wrote in a statement. “In Moore v. Harper, the Supreme Court rejected the radical independent state legislature theory and reaffirmed the most central principle of our democracy: that the people, not politicians, have political power. State legislators cannot violate the will of the people as expressed in their constitutions and interpreted by their supreme courts. I am incredibly proud of my team for winning this critical case upholding our democracy.”
House Minority Leader Robert Reives said Tuesday’s decision reinforces the role the courts play in protecting citizens against legislative overreach.
Senate Minority Leader Dan Blue called on lawmakers to continue protecting against blatant partisan gerrymandering.
Moore told The News & Observer Tuesday morning that lawmakers plan to redraw the congressional districts sometime in September or October.
