Update June 15: if the Court dismisses the case as some parties are requesting, I will resolve N/A since the Court is neither ruling in favor of state legislatures nor blocking future action by state courts. That way we can focus on the question of law.
The doctrine at the heart of the case is known as the “independent state legislature” theory – the idea that, under the Constitution, only the legislature has the power to regulate federal elections, without interference from state courts. Proponents of the theory point to the Constitution’s elections clause, which gives state legislatures the power to set the “Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives.” This market will resolve to YES if the court rules in favor of Moore AND also that state courts do not have jurisdiction over federal elections, only the state legislature does. For more background, see https://www.scotusblog.com/2022/06/justices-will-hear-case-that-tests-power-of-state-legislatures-to-set-rules-for-federal-elections/
1,000
3.00The opinion has been issued so closing the market. Looks like the answer is "no", but as always, SCOTUS cases are a bit complex, and I'm not going to rely solely on my own reading of the opinion. Gonna wait for at least SCOTUSblog to update their summary and confirm my initial read. Probably resolve this tomorrow or Thursday if that's ok with everyone.
@wilsonkime Yeah especially the way the market is worded, the court did not rule in favor of state legislatures. Even the dissents argued simply for dissmisal. All sources agree. Will resolve as no.
https://www.scotusblog.com/2023/06/supreme-court-rules-against-north-carolina-republicans-over-election-law-theory/
https://abc7ny.com/supreme-court-case-elections-moore-v-harper-decision-independent-state-legislature-scotus/13231544/
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/06/27/supreme-court-rejects-independent-state-legislature-theory-00103793
How will this be resolved if the court dismiss the petition as moot?https://www.scotusblog.com/2023/05/in-new-filings-lawyers-disagree-over-whether-court-should-decide-major-election-case-moore-v-harper/
@NiallWeaver This is a tough question. By strict phrasing of the question, if the Supreme Court dismisses the case, they have not ruled in favor of the state legislature so I should resolve this "No". Although I think I was hoping for a prediction on how SCOTUS would rule, and now it's a mixed question of whether they will dismiss or rule one way. But it seems too late to clarify the wording.
Actually. The question was also worded about barring state supreme courts from overruling legislatures... let me think.
@NiallWeaver So if the court dismisses the case, they wouldn't be blocking state courts from ruling on election disputes, maybe it would be ok to resolve N/A in that case.
@wilsonkime If it’s dismissed then the question of law is left unresolved so the spirit of the question would suggest N/A.