In a case challenging state courts' and constitutions' ability to constrain state legislatures on matters relating to federal elections, the State Democracy Research Initiative filed an amicus brief arguing that the U.S. Constitution's Elections Clause does not exempt legislatures from state constitutional constraints. On June 27, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the independent state legislature theory and held that state lawmakers legislating issues related to federal elections are still subject to state judicial review and the constraints of state constitutions.
After the North Carolina Supreme Court invalidated the state's congressional map as a partisan gerrymandering, finding that it violated the state's constitution, North Carolina lawmakers asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene. The North Carolina legislature argued that state courts and constitutions could not constrain state legislatures on matters relating to federal elections, basing their argument on an interpretation of the U.S. Constitution's Elections Clause known as the "independent state legislature theory."
On October 26th, 2022, the State Democracy Research Initiative filed an amicus brief in this case explaining that the Elections Clause does not exempt legislatures from state constitutional constraints when they regulate congressional elections. The brief focuses on the problems with trying to classify state constitutional provisions as “substantive” or “open-ended." The brief also explains that petitioners’ half-independent state legislature theory ignores historical context. State constitutions have addressed congressional elections throughout U.S. history, and the Framers of the U.S. Constitution were critical of unchecked state legislative power. The brief submitted on behalf of 12 legal scholars with nationally recognized expertise on state constitutional law, history, and elections: Jessica Bulman-Pozen (Columbia Law School), Joshua Douglas (University of Kentucky J. David Rosenburg College of Law), James Gardner (University of Buffalo School of Law), Helen Hershkoff (New York University School of Law), Justin Long (Wayne State University Law School), Jonathan Marshfield (University of Florida Levin College of Law), Michael Pollack (Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law), Daniel Rodriguez (Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law), Jane Schacter (Stanford Law School), Miriam Seifter (University of Wisconsin Law School), Justin Weinstein-Tull (Arizona State University Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law), and Robert Yablon (University of Wisconsin Law School).
On June 27, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the independent state legislature theory and held that state lawmakers legislating issues related to federal elections are still subject to state judicial review and the constraints of state constitutions.