In a Tuesday ruling, the Supreme Court upheld the North Carolina Supreme Court’s power to strike down a gerrymandered map of congressional districts put forth by the state’s legislature. In the process, the court effectively brushed aside independent state legislature theory, a right-wing legal theory that would grant total authority to state legislatures in regulating federal elections, without checks from the state’s courts or governor. President Donald Trump’s team employed the same theory when trying to overturn the 2020 election results. Writing for the 6-3 majority, Chief Justice John Roberts tossed out the theory, saying that “State courts retain the authority to apply state constitutional restraints when legislatures act on the power conferred on them by the Elections Clause.” He noted that federal law still supersedes the authority of state courts in election law disputes, NBC News reported.
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