WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that North Carolina’s top court did not overstep its bounds in striking down a congressional districting plan as excessively partisan under state law.
The justices by a 6-3 vote rejected the broadest view of a case that could have transformed elections for Congress and president.
North Carolina Republicans had asked the court to leave state legislatures virtually unchecked by their state courts when dealing with federal elections.
Although the decision will not have a large impact on North Carolina, I’m glad this independent legislature theory is squashed. The idea that the state legislature should have unchecked authority is directly at odds with democratic principles.
It would have been the end of democracy in the USA, effectively. If “independent legislature” had passed, republican states would have never accepted an election result again.