In most states, such redistricting is done by the party in power, which can lead to map manipulation for partisan gain. A pair of cases about to reach the Supreme Court could reshape the 2024 election. The average length of a Supreme Court tenure has grown a lot. You can renew your subscription or Read about the decision here. But Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the majority, rejected that argument. One way of reading this opinion is the court is consciously declining to open a new front in the war upon democracy at a time in which democratic ideals are coming under a considerable amount of stress, says Aziz Huq, professor of law at the University of Chicago Law School. All rights reserved. Some GOP attorneys most notably John Eastman, who was behind then-President Donald Trumps failed strategy to try to submit fake electors have tried to argue that the same principles in this case should be applied to the Constitutions Electors Clause, which could give state legislators even more power over picking the president. He has been granted bail repeatedly only to be rearrested; his trial is moving slowly.In Russia, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, arrested in March, appeared in Moscow City Court. The diminished Voting Rights Act has already played a key role in the 2022 . 5 min read The U.S. Supreme Court issued the final two opinions of its term on Thursday, capping a month of blockbuster decisions from the nation's high court in. Elections. Also pending are important cases about Bidens immigration policy and the ability of state legislatures to run elections with little judicial oversight. The Moore v. Harper case out of North Carolina could be even more far-reaching, but the outcome is uncertain, adding tension to the high stakes surrounding the Independent State Legislature theory. A weekly digest of Monitor views and insightful commentary on major events. But the legal fight over this landmark law is far from over. Primary Elections. The case attracted wide attention because several of the most conservative justices in past rulings have expressed interest in this independent state legislature theory. Supreme Court nomination process, explained | CNN Politics A literal reading of this text would find that state institutions other than legislatures should have no say in federal political arrangements, argued North Carolina GOP members. The three most recent Christian Science articles with a spiritual perspective. The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday night rejected an eleventh hour challenge to Joe Biden's election as president. The U.S. Supreme Court has about four weeks left to release opinions for more than two dozen cases it heard this term. The court does leave some potential breathing room for federal court review of a state court decision that completely goes off the rails, says Steven Schwinn, professor at the University of Illinois Chicago School of Law. How the Supreme Court could radically reshape elections for president The Supreme Court has chipped away at the Voting Rights Act - POLITICO One way of reading this opinion is the court is consciously declining to open a new front in the war upon democracy at a time in which democratic ideals are coming under a considerable amount of stress, says Aziz Huq of the University of Chicago Law School. But it will be murkier than it was previously.". Support Intelligent, In-Depth, Trustworthy Journalism. But fears remain that the ruling may be weaponized against the judicial system, which already has come under attack by the president for rejecting a number of his administrations initiatives, including one that would have transferred the newly created National Guard from civilian to military control. Were known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspapers founding in 1908. In truth, its really not even a gerrymandering case or a voting rights case, said Allison Riggs, the co-executive director of the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, who is one of the attorneys on the case. 09/29/2022 04:31 AM EDT. The high court has 10 opinions left to release over the next week before the justices begin their summer break. Lawrence Hurley covers the Supreme Court for NBC News. What's Next for the Supreme Court? - The New York Times But its about Black Americans and whether or not your vote and your voice will be influential, impactful and heard.. Light illuminates part of the Supreme Court building on Capitol Hill in Washington, Nov. 16, 2022. Already a subscriber? Regardless of what happens at the high court, loan payments that have been on hold since the start of the coronavirus pandemic three years ago will resume this summer. Its about Black Americans, especially Black Americans in the South, said Shalela Dowdy, who is one of the parties in the case and the president of Stand Up Mobile. The plaintiff in the case is a Colorado web designer who argues that Colorado's public accommodations law prevents her from doing what she wants to do most custom web designs for weddings. Black voters are either concentrated in that district so they are a supermajority there or spread out across the remaining six districts so that their voting power is diluted. Heres a look at some of the cases the court has left to decide from the term that began back in October. Critics of the doctrine have said its application would let legislatures easily pass further voting restrictions or pursue extreme partisan gerrymandering. The Supreme Court is releasing more decisions this Thursday and Friday. Does the 2003 law, known as the HEROES Act, give the president and his secretary of education the power to authorize federal student loan forgiveness? This case could be the next blow. During arguments in the case in December, the courts conservative majority sounded sympathetic to Smiths arguments, and religious plaintiffs have in recent years won a series of victories at the high court. The ruling from the countrys top court came as President Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador ramps up his attacks on the judicial system. The Supreme Court made it harder to overturn the 2024 election - NBC News Only in some states, Supreme Court unanimously sides with Twitter in ISIS attack case. Similar procedural snags also might cause the court to punt on the immigration case (in which Texas and Louisiana argue that the federal government is not detaining and deporting enough unauthorized immigrants) and the election case (in which North Carolina Republicans want the court to adopt the so-called independent state legislature theory). Reuters, the news and media division of Thomson Reuters, is the worlds largest multimedia news provider, reaching billions of people worldwide every day. And we can prove it.. Experts described the courts decision as a major setback for the administration of Mr. Lpez Obrador, who has made overhauling the electoral system a major priority. Key cases on the Supreme Court's docket next term - Yahoo News Jessica Gresko, Associated Press Manipulating electoral district boundaries to marginalize certain voters and increase the influence of others is called gerrymandering. So while we dont know what the specifics will look like as the next election unfolds, the U.S. Supreme Court is holding on to the power to intervene, which means it could still be deciding cases that matter a lot for contentious elections. The rule of law has never been threatened with the approval of the reforms, the presidents legal adviser wrote in a statement in March. We change lives. What Is It? In other words, this case had the potential to take away one of Democrats few remaining weapons against restrictive voting laws. Two of the judges on the panel were Trump appointees, the third a Clinton appointee. The North Carolina legislature is expected to draw a new gerrymander this summer. Subscribe to Heres the Deal, our politics The majority opinion took pains to document evidence that state legislatures had always been subject to oversight from governors and courts, even prior to the Constitutional Convention of 1787. The justices underscored that state courts are also capable of going too far, potentially usurping some of the power that belongs to state legislatures. Build the strongest argument relying on authoritative content, attorney-editor expertise, and industry defining technology. The government had defended the changes as a needed step to reduce the bureaucratic costs of elections and to ensure that no more frauds occur in Mexico. Courts & Law Supreme Court to review state legislatures' power in federal elections The justices will look next term at a case from North Carolina, where Republicans want to restore a. October 2022 (PDF) November 2022 (PDF) December 2022 (PDF) January 2023 (PDF) February 2023 (PDF) October Term 2021. Some issues like abortion and affirmative action have divided the right and the left for decades, so the outcomes of such cases are rather predictable, he said. He covers Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. The case is somewhat unusual in that both sides agree on a number of things, and when the court heard arguments in April both liberal and conservative justices seemed in broad agreement that businesses like the Postal Service cant cite minor costs or hardships to reject requests to accommodate religious practices. In his majority opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts left the door open to federal courts shutting down state court rulings that stray too far from their normal role interpreting state law. You dont have a Christian Science Monitor Two conservative justices remain a complete mystery: Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett. They pointed to the exact wording of the Elections Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which states that the time and manner of congressional elections shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof, subject to alteration by Congress. Electoral districts are redrawn each decade to reflect population changes as measured by a national census, last taken in 2020. Legal experts differ in predicting how the court would view a similar case in the future, with conservatives adamant that the state court had inappropriately rewritten the law and liberals saying that it was merely carrying out its normal duties interpreting state law. The courts ruling in Moore v. Harper may need to be placed in the larger context of recent pressures on democracy. Who bears the burden, and how much, when religious employees refuse Sabbath work? contact customer service The case involves a Christian graphic artist from Colorado who wants to begin designing wedding websites but objects to making wedding websites for same-sex couples. The Biden administration has said that getting rid of race-conscious college admissions would have a destabilizing effect that would cause the ranks of Black and Latino students to plummet at the nations most selective schools. But you know what? But on Tuesday, a majority of justices refrained from taking a big step that could have radically reshaped a core part of U.S. politics: how presidential and congressional elections are run. Less clear, however, was how the justices might decide the particular workers case. A tourist wearing a patriotic hat poses during a visit to the Supreme Court in Washington, U.S., June 12, 2023 File photo by Kevin Lamarque/ Reuters. The North Carolina Supreme Court, whose judges are elected by the voters in the state, last year ruled that the Republican-drawn map unlawfully disadvantaged Democrats and that partisan gerrymandering violated the North Carolina state constitution. And when the high court heard arguments in the cases in late October, all six conservative justices on the court expressed doubts about the practice. Eastman's argument was never put to the test because Pence refused to go along, but some of the other wild claims made in court during the 2020 election also touched upon the independent state legislature theory. The bill would have slashed the National Electoral Institutes work force, reduced its autonomy and curbed its power to punish politicians for violating election laws. And it might allow state legislatures to certify presidential electors who were not approved by the voters an idea that Donald Trump tried unsuccessfully to put forth in 2020. Conservative lawyer Eastman had embraced the theory as part of his widely discredited argument that then-Vice President Mike Pence had the power to refuse to certify the 2020 presidential election results. But even some conservative attorneys have rejected Eastmans interpretation, and there is significant disagreement among election legal scholars on the threat the independent legislature theory poses here. Reggie Weaver speaks in Raleigh, North Carolina, Feb. 15, 2022, about a partisan gerrymandering ruling by the North Carolina Supreme Court. In a case out of North Carolina the justices were asked to essentially eliminate the power of state courts to strike down congressional districts drawn by legislatures on the grounds that they violate state constitutions. In a 6-3 . Week of September 11, 2022. This isnt just about Black Alabamians. The reason: She believes that marriage should only be between a man and a woman. A majority of the court has affirmed over a century of legal precedent on which [the independent state legislature] theory would have required a reversal to move forward, said Mr. Wolf. Others think the ruling could help ensure the opposite: that the courts will not be deluged with questionable lawsuits two years from now, although election lawyers aren't holding their breath. A ruling accepting a strong version of the independent state legislature theory could reopen maps that courts drew this election cycle, such as Pennsylvania or New York and could, in theory, even challenge the legitimacy of independent redistricting commissions. The high court . Mexico's Supreme Court Rejects AMLO-Backed Election Changes - The New This loophole thus might lead to further litigation on the issue for future elections. Original story: At issue is the so-called independent state legislature theory, put forth in this case by the North Carolina Republican state Legislature. Proponents of the independent state legislature theory argued that a literal reading of the U.S. Constitution gives state lawmakers the final say in regulating votes for federal office, unchecked by governors, state courts, or state constitutions. A selection of the most viewed stories this week on the Monitor's website. hobbled a key pillar of Mexican democracy. The case was argued in November. US Supreme Court rules against NC GOP leaders in elections case We know that is not going to happen, he said. Legally speaking, this really is I think one of the cases where the briefing and the arguments up to the point where the court decided to take the case werent really fully fleshed out, and it wouldnt surprise me if this is one they end up regretting taking, she said. Timothy Moore, the speaker of North Carolina's House of Representatives who defended the Republican-drawn map, said that "fortunately the current Supreme Court of North Carolina has rectified bad precedent from the previous majority.". "We will continue to move forward with the redistricting process later this year," Moore added. What every Republican senator has said about filling a Supreme Court September 2022 Calendar and Docket - Supreme Court of Appeals of West This series explores efforts around the world to seek justice and restitution for communities subjected to historical harms. The state is over one-quarter Black, but just one of its seven districts is majority-minority. By continuing to browse the site A clash of gay rights and religious rights is also yet to be decided by the court. Monitor journalism changes lives because we open that too-small box that most people think they live in. How Supreme Court has already influenced the midterm election - USA TODAY The Supreme Court is entering the home stretch of a term that at least so far has confounded the narrative of a court fully captured by the right: Ideologically polarized 6-3 votes have temporarily disappeared, and the liberal justices are getting their way more often than the courts staunchest conservatives. Her opponents, meanwhile, say that if she wins, a range of businesses will be able to discriminate, refusing to serve Black, Jewish or Muslim customers, interracial or interfaith couples or immigrants. 19802023 The Christian Science Monitor. The case was argued in October. Critics of the doctrine, including many legal scholars, Democrats and liberal voting rights advocates, have called it a threat to American democratic norms. As drawn it seemed likely to produce a mix of 10 Republican and four Democratic members of Congress in a state where the number of voters of each party are evenly balanced. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/supreme-courts-biggest-decisions-of-the-term-are-coming-heres-what-to-watch, Supreme Court lifts hold on Louisiana redistricting case that could boost power of Black voters, WATCH: Biden and Harris hold event marking anniversary of Supreme Courts Dobbs ruling, Supreme Court rejects Republican-led challenge to Biden policy on deportations, Supreme Court rules for law used to prosecute people accused of encouraging illegal immigration, Supreme Court rules against man given 27 years in prison on gun charges, Supreme Court rules against Navajo Nation on water rights dispute, Whats at stake in the Supreme Court affirmative action cases, survival of affirmative action in higher education, Supreme Court hears arguments in cases that could end affirmative action, Borrowers face tough decisions as resumption of student loan payments approaches, objects to making wedding websites for same-sex couples, Supreme Court hears case pitting gay rights against religious freedom, to make rules for congressional and presidential elections, Supreme Court considers state lawmakers authority over voting rules. US Supreme Court tosses race-based dispute over Louisiana electoral map That could mean a ruling joined by both liberals and conservatives. This history showed that the special status of the legislature is nonsense, said Tom Wolf, deputy director of the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, in a press briefing on Tuesday. Mark Sherman, Associated Press. When the court heard arguments in the case in February, the plan didnt seem likely to survive, though its possible the justices could decide the challengers lacked the right to sue and the plan can still go forward. The merits of the case are fairly straightforward. Numerous plaintiffs, including Democratic voters, sued after North Carolina's Republican-controlled legislature passed its version of the congressional map in 2021. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images By a 6-3 vote, the court rejected a legal theory that state legislatures have almost unlimited power to decide the rules for federal elections and draw highly partisan congressional district maps. Chief Justice John Roberts dissented against the initial decision to stay the lower courts order, but he nevertheless wrote that the original Supreme Court case and its progeny have engendered considerable disagreement and uncertainty regarding the nature and contours of a vote dilution claim., In its briefings before the court, Alabama argued the lower courts erred and said that the state had a race neutral reason for drawing its current map: Just because a majority-minority district could be drawn does not mean that it must be drawn.. Our work isn't possible without your support. Other cases like a pair of lawsuits against social media companies over pro-terrorist content on their platforms raise novel questions that may not adhere to conventional legal ideologies. Emiliano Rodrguez Mega is a researcher-reporterfor The Times based in Mexico City. And Im going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in. Update June 8: The Supreme Court ruled against Alabama's defense of an electoral map drawn by the state's Republican-dominated legislature. The legislators returned to the court later in March, seeking review of the North Carolina Supreme court's decision invalidating the legislature's map and ordering a new map for the 2022 elections. Log in to hide ads. Latest book reviews, author interviews, and reading trends. See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays. He said he could find "no apparent errors" in the way the lower court applied existing precedents. Supreme Court to review state legislatures' power in federal elections subscription yet. Many had worried that a court approval of the more extreme interpretations of the independent state legislature theorycould have played havoc with election arrangements across the country, particularly in states where either party has solid legislative control. The case also drew the rare friend of the court briefing from the Conference of Chief Justices, a working group of senior state judges. A ruling rejecting a broad version of the "independent state legislature theory" could help deter far-fetched legal arguments in the 2024 election. Supreme Court Shuts Door On Trump Election Prospects : NPR
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