To some, it’s an arcane discussion among constitutional scholars that reads like cement.
To others, it’s a brazen grab for “runaway legislative power” by state lawmakers who say the U.S. Constitution grants them exclusive elections authority, making them immune from their own state constitutions and courts.
At its heart, Moore v. Harper is about the Independent State Legislature (ISL) theory, an obscure doctrine that has gained traction among some conservatives that will be debated in oral arguments on Dec. 7 before the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington.
Honest Elections Project Executive Director Jason Snead says “there’s a lot of fear-mongering” by ISL theory critics. (Courtesy Jason Snead)
More than 300 organizations and individuals have filed nearly 70 briefs in North Carolina’s General Assembly’s challenge of a state Supreme Court ruling that its congressional map was an “unlawful partisan gerrymander” that violated the state’s constitution. …