Wednesday, December 7, 2022

Danger to democracy in Supreme Court case isn’t theoretical

 https://www.politico.com/news/2022/12/07/arizona-legislator-danger-to-democracy-00072580

The Supreme Court begins oral arguments this Wednesday on Moore v. Harper, a North Carolina case in which Republicans are pushing to invalidate a state court’s redistricting decision based on the independent state legislature theory, a constitutional interpretation that would effectively remove the ability of state courts to check election-related laws.

“What’s at stake here are truly the checks and balances our founders laced into the system,” said Neal Katyal, a former acting U.S. solicitor general under President Obama and partner at Hogan Lovells who will argue before the court on Wednesday.

In a recent call with reporters, Katyal emphasized the unfettered ability of statehouses to draw gerrymandered maps — which are frequently challenged and overturned in state courts — as the most immediate consequence of a ruling in favor of the plaintiffs. Already in Ohio, for instance, the GOP-led legislature has for most of this year been in open defiance of the state Supreme Court’s repeated orders to redraw congressional and state legislative maps it has deemed gerrymandered.

3 comments:

  1. Blah, blah, blah. Democracy's threatened. Why? Because we, the liberals, might lose a court case and when we lose a court case or an election, that's proff that democracy isn't working! Don't you think it's getting a little old?

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  2. Did you even read the pleadings?

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  3. American democracy is extremely robust. Despite all the hand-wringing to the contrary, there is no chance of it getting overturned short of a national tragedy like nuclear explosions in major cities brining an end to civilization. There was never a chance that democracy was in danger on January 6, there was never a chance that democracy was in danger if Trump won re-election and there was never a chance that democracy was in danger if the Republicans swept the recent elections.
    Gerrymandering districts to obtain an electoral advantage is something both parties are equally guilty of and ultimately aren't a threat to democracy since the next elections happen on schedule and according to the same rules as the previous ones.
    Again, the definition of "threat to democracy" for liberals is "We didn't win the last election."

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