Supreme Court denies GOP challenges to congressional maps in North Carolina and Pennsylvania

The Supreme Court on Monday night denied requests from Republicans challenging congressional maps in North Carolina and Pennsylvania that had been approved by state courts, in two rulings that could benefit Democrats in the midterm elections. The North Carolina congressional map drawn by state judges would likely give Democrats at least another seat in Congress next year. The court -- over the noted dissents of Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch -- turned away an emergency request from Republican legislators to use a different map that would be more favorable to their party. The North Carolina case especially had been closely followed by election law experts because lawyers for Republican legislators had asked the Supreme Court to adopt a theory that state courts cannot interpret their own state constitutions when it comes to redistricting and rules related to federal elections.

The theory is called the "Independent State Legislature claim" in legalese. The Electors Clause of the US Constitution vests "state legislatures" with the power to appoint presidential electors "in the manner" they choose. The Elections Clause gives them control over the "Times, Places and Manner" of holding elections. Under the theory being pushed, "legislature" excludes a role for state courts.If a majority of the court were ever to adopt those arguments, it could profoundly change the landscape of election law, upending the power of state courts to rely on state laws in disputes over federal elections. The theory attracted some members of the court's right wing in the past during litigation surrounding then-President Donald Trump's quest to use the courts to overturn Joe Biden's presidential election victory. The North Carolina Supreme Court held that the congressional map was an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander under North Carolina law, saying that the General Assembly must not "dilute any individual's vote on the basis of partisan affiliation." The congressional maps are "unconstitutional beyond a reasonable doubt" under several clauses of the North Carolina Constitution, it added. The state Supreme Court ordered a trial court to prepare new maps.