The Supermajority On The Court Is Poised To Euthanize Democracy*
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If “fundamentally change” means “destroy,” the Washington Post’s Editorial Board said it correctly: “The Supreme Court’s next move could fundamentally change our democracy.”
It’s Hard to Overstate the Danger of the Voting Case the Supreme Court Just Agreed to Hear. The Republican supermajority on the Supreme Court signaled it is poised to accelerate the demise of the country’s experiment and end what’s left of the constitutional republic and liberal democracy. Doing so, the court would hand over the keys to authoritarianism and one-party rule to a minority party backed by unlimited dark corporate money, the same means by which the Federalist Society hat-trick were screened, selected, and elevated to their lifetime appointments.
The court’s decision to hear North Carolina’s Moore v. Harper during its next term is in perfect alignment with what Republicans have demonstrated, that the Constitution, the rule of law, voting rights, and free and fair elections are mere obstacles to overcome to reach their primary goal of regaining and permanently holding onto power. The McConnell court was created for just this moment — and, well, to eliminate reproductive autonomy, gut regulation of carbon emissions and other regulations dark money, high-dollar donors disfavor, further blur the lines between government and religious (Christian) zealotry, contort the Second Amendment beyond all history, meaning, and reason, and eliminate even more fundamental liberty and privacy interests in a foreseeable parade of horribles.
In 2021, the North Carolina legislature created a map for congressional elections based on the 2020 U.S. Census. Rebecca Harper and others sued the state claiming the map was an illegal partisan gerrymander and in violation of the state constitution. The North Carolina Supreme Court agreed the map was an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander and enjoined its implementation. Relevant here, the NC supreme court held that while the legislature “has the duty to apportion North Carolina’s congressional . . . districts,” that power is limited by the state constitution, and “the state judiciary . . . has…
