Will Supreme Court aid the far right in enshrining minority rule? Constitution hangs by a thread

[marmar]

Will Supreme Court aid the far right in enshrining minority rule? Constitution hangs by a thread
The "independent state legislature" theory is a ludicrous fringe position. Will that stop the right-wing justices?

By AUSTIN SARAT - DENNIS AFTERGUT
PUBLISHED DECEMBER 8, 2022 5:45AM (EST)


(Salon) A constitutional republic is a precious and often precarious thing. That is as true in the United States today as it has been elsewhere and at other times in history. This week has added new evidence of those realities.

It began with Donald Trump's online musings about "terminating" the U.S. Constitution because he didn't like the results of the November 2020 presidential election. That provoked so much blowback, including from Republicans, that he tried to walk that radical idea back two days after the Dec. 3 Truth Social post in which he first floated it.

Then, on Wednesday, three Supreme Court justices appeared poised to use the case of Moore v. Harper to neuter the scheme of checks and balances around federal election rule-making in America.

....(snip)....

Moore v. Harper raises a fringe, ultra-conservative legal thesis — the "independent state legislature theory" (ISLT). If adopted, it could grant state legislatures virtually unlimited power to set the rules for federal elections. During the Dec. 7 oral arguments on Moore, questioning from Justices Neil Gorsuch, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas reflected their clear sympathy for the North Carolina legislature's extremist ISLT position.

If their position prevails, the American people's right to choose their representatives could be disastrously compromised.

Moore involves a harshly gerrymandered congressional map that North Carolina's Republican-controlled legislature adopted in 2021. The state's Supreme Court struck it down under the North Carolina constitution. Republican legislators are now asking the Supreme Court to embrace ISLT and rule that state courts have no say over legislative actions in federal election matters. ...............(more)

https://www.salon.com/2022/12/08/will-aid-the-far-right-in-enshrining-minority-rule-constitution-hangs-by-a-thread/

[ColinC]

1. Wouldn't just be aiding the far right. Dems have enough legislative majorities

-or are closely divided in enough states for a ruling of the independent legislature nature to backfire considerably.

[bucolic_frolic]

2. SCOTUS neuters state judiciary? In favor of state legislatures?

Justices ruling against lawyers? The state is bad on the judiciary end but ok on the legislature end?

I doubt Roberts will sign off on that. So the deal is to find a 5th Justice. That leaves Kavanaugh or Conehead

We are so screwed.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

3. For this thread

Link to tweet

[dalton99a]

4. Perpetual minority rule is the goal of the Fascist Society

aka the Federalist Society