EXPLAINER: How Supreme Court case could alter US House seats
BY DAVID A. LIEB ASSOCIATED PRESS
UPDATED DECEMBER 06, 2022 4:31 PM
Partisan gerrymandering is back before the U.S. Supreme Court in a case stemming from the latest attempt by North Carolina's Republican-led legislature to draw U.S. House districts favoring GOP candidates.
The question justices will consider Wednesday is whether state courts can rely on their state constitutions — as the North Carolina Supreme Court did — to strike down politically rigged voting districts for congressional elections.
North Carolina's top Republican lawmakers contend they can't. Rather, they assert that the U.S. Constitution gives power over federal elections only to state legislatures and Congress — an argument known as the "independent state legislature" theory. A broad embrace of the theory by the high court could upend hundreds of election laws across the U.S.
A ruling for North Carolina's legislature also could affect redistricting lawsuits in states ranging from Republican-led Ohio to Democratic-led New Mexico. It also could call into question new congressional maps enacted by other state courts after the 2020 census, including in Democratic-dominated New York.
Read more at: https://www.thenewstribune.com/news/politics-government/national-politics/article269666236.html#storylink=cpy
= new reply since forum marked as read
