Supreme Court Rejects Right-Wing ‘Theory’ That Would Have Upended American Elections

Remillard@kbin.social to Politics@kbin.social – 158 points –
Supreme Court Rejects Right-Wing ‘Theory’ That Would Have Upended American Elections
talkingpointsmemo.com

The Supreme Court rejected the independent state legislature theory in a bombshell decision Tuesday, turning back a right-wing attempt to vest the sole power in administering federal elections with state legislatures.

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could someone tl;dr what exactly this was, and what it would do?

SCOTUS just soundly rejected an idea called "independent state legislature theory" in a case called Moore v. Harper. Here's a good summary of the implications if it had been upheld:

"Proponents of the independent state legislature theory reject this traditional reading, insisting that these clauses give state legislatures exclusive and near-absolute power to regulate federal elections. The result? When it comes to federal elections, legislators would be free to violate the state constitution and state courts couldn’t stop them."

https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/independent-state-legislature-theory-explained

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