The Supreme Court Seems Skeptical of the Worst Version of the Independent State Legislature Theory
But a better version is proving difficult to figure out.
Midway through yesterday’s Supreme Court oral argument in Moore v. Harper, the case concerning the “independent state legislature” theory, Justice Elena Kagan took a moment to consider the stakes. “This is a theory with big consequences,” she noted.
Kagan’s comment was a dry bit of understatement. Ever since the Supreme Court first agreed to hear the case, Moore has drawn alarm from across the political spectrum, with liberal activists and grandees of alike condemning the independent state legislature theory as a threat to American democracy.
