The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Dec. 9, 2022
Today’s Links
Articles & Resources:
Democracy Docket – Headed Toward a Middle Ground? Today’s Argument in Moore v. Harper
Center for American Progress – Supreme Court Oral Arguments in Moore v. Harper Discredit Election Theory That Could Undermine Democracy‘
CNN – Takeaways from Moore v. Harper, the historic Supreme Court arguments on election rules
SCOTUS Blog – Court seems unwilling to embrace broad version of “independent state legislature” theory
Today’s Script: (Variations occur with audio due to editing for time)
You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.
We’re wrapping up our coverage of the oral arguments held Dec. 7 for Moore vs. Harper, the U.S. Supreme Court case which could put all power for election law into the hands of state legislatures without judicial reviews or gubernatorial vetoes.
In general, the justices asked skeptical questions about the North Carolina legislature’s case, and tried to define what U.S. constitutional latitude that states have in creating & reviewing election law.
Our early analysis yesterday was confirmed by most democracy experts. Most of the justices were skeptical of the historical, constitutional, and practical aspects of the Independent State Legislature theory.
It appears that Justices Gorsuch and Alito are all-in on the theory, and that Justice Thomas was leaning that way. Justices Coney-Barrett, Kavanaugh, and Roberts asked probing questions which pointed out the many weaknesses of the pro-ISL argument, but according to Democracy Docket, were suggesting some type of middle ground constitutional test which could define state legislative power. Justices Kagen, Jackson & Sotomayor were deeply critical of the fundamental and historical of the ISL arguments.
While it appears that a democracy disaster MAY have been averted, and states will retain their state court and gubernatorial veto power over election law, we will see how narrow the court’s decision might be. A ruling is expected early next summer.
Links to analysis by leading democracy scholars can be found at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. For the American Democracy Minute, I’m Brian Beihl.