The Supreme Court's Most Conservative Justices Got Humiliated on Wednesday

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

After three hours of oral arguments at the Supreme Court on Wednesday, only one thing is certain: If the justices want to blow up federal elections, they will have nothing to hide behind—not history, not logic, and certainly not the Constitution.

The three lawyers defending democracy methodically dismantled the “independent state legislature” theory from every conceivable angle, debunking each myth, misreading, and misrepresentation deployed to prop it up.

They bested the conservative justices who tried to corner them, identifying faulty reasoning and bogus history with devastating precision.


Those of us who’ve been ringing the alarm over this dangerous theory—and who’ve been disgusted by the campaign to drag it from the far-right fringe all the way to the Supreme Court—can take solace that these capable lawyers exposed it as an utter fraud. This idea was at the center of Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election, so it was a relief to hear five justices sound deeply skeptical that it has any basis in the Constitution. It is far too early to celebrate the demise of the independent state legislature theory, since four justices have already endorsed it. But the skepticism it faced at arguments suggests that democracy has a fighting chance of survival.

If Wednesday’s case, Moore v. Harper, is new to you, prepare to be startled by how ridiculous it is.


https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/the-supreme-court-s-most-conservative-justices-got-humiliated-on-wednesday/ar-AA151LsU

[RandySF]

1. Cavanugh didn't sound enthusiastic about the plaintiffs' argument.

[Cha]

2. TY for this article and for

Bolding some it.. it makes it easier for me to read.

[moondust]

3. Ridiculous indeed.

Looks to me like the GQP trying to give "their" state legislatures dictatorial powers to ignore the voters and decide who the President shall be--in addition to the powers they already have to decide how their legislative districts shall be gerrymandered--possibly leading to dictatorial control of two branches of the federal government.

[plimsoll]

4. That would be three branches.

It’s all federal elections. So they’d get to assign senators too.

[moondust]

5. Oh.

I thought it would just give them dictatorial powers to decide who the Presidential electors shall be. I don't know how it would work with Senators.

[KS Toronado]

6. Appears years of stacking the courts with R judges

does have it's benefits for them. Time we find a way to impeach a few of the useless ones
or increase the size of the SCOTUS with some young far left Judges who respect law.

[iemanja]

7. Not in this case

Reports from court observers are that the case is going down.

[FBaggins]

15. I wouldn't say that "the case is going down"

The ISLT theory is probably going down... but we're still likely to lose the case.

That is - they probably won't set a new precedent that state legislatures have unfettered powers to control elections... but will still rule that the NC supreme court erred in producing their own map (rather than sending it back to the legislature).

Which likely sends the issue back to NC, where we no longer have a blue majority on the court to block the next maps.

[Hamlette]

9. it is pretty far fetched to say four justices have already endorsed the independent state le. theory

four justices have said and or ruled in redistricting cases upholding maps drawn by conservative legislatures but that is a far cry from the theory in question. Sheesh, I'll have to remember msn.com is click bait.

[druidity33]

12. The original article is at Slate. nt.

[Hamlette]

10. it is pretty far fetched to say four justices have already endorsed the independent state le. theory

four justices have said and or ruled in redistricting cases upholding maps drawn by conservative legislatures but that is a far cry from the theory in question. Sheesh, I'll have to remember msn.com is click bait.

[Silent3]

11. That assumes they are capable of feeling humiliated by legal arguments

The only thing they can probably feel humiliation about is failing to get their way, or failing to serve their special interests and agendas.

They don't give a damn, as the Dodd decision showed, about how transparently political they are, or how logically or legalistically ridiculous they might appear.

[Irish_Dem]

13. Exactly. They have no shame. They would only be furious that they cannot get their way.

[live love laugh]

14. The only thing that matters to them is power.