Moore v. Harper and Marc Elias s Curious Idea of Democracy – WSJ

Marc Elias, the leading Democratic election lawyer, complains that a dangerous theory will have its day in court this fall. That s rich he was instrumental in bringing it there by litigating the case that raises it. But his dire warnings have attracted plenty of support. The headline of a Washington Post op-ed by a trio of legal scholars blares the threat of a body blow to our democracy.

Moore v. Harper is the product of a nationwide campaign, led by Mr. Elias, to mow down state election laws that make it easy to vote but hard to cheat. That effort is a large part of the reason the Supreme Court felt the need to weigh in.

After North Carolina gained a House seat in the 2020 census, the state s Republican-controlled Legislature drew a new congressional map. Mr. Elias and his clients petitioned state courts to toss out that map as unduly partisan in violation of the state constitution a legal theory the North Carolina Supreme Court had rejected as unworkably open-ended in 2015.

This time, citing a handful of clauses plucked seemingly at random from the North Carolina Constitution, the state supreme court invented a new, judicially enforceable prohibition on so-called partisan gerrymandering. It used this newfound power to toss out the Legislature s map and replace it with one of its own design, along the lines Mr. Elias s experts proposed.

via www.wsj.com

I cherish high hopes for Moore v. Harper. I don’t know what the law is on this one, but I predict we’ll lose the Chief, stalwart conservative that he is. But 5-4, if Brett and Amy hold firm. Get out your rosaries, prayer warriors.