In February 2022, the North Carolina supreme court issued a historic ruling that partisan gerrymandering violates the North Carolina constitution and ordered new maps to be drawn.
North Carolina lawmakers have appealed the ruling to the US Supreme Court, putting forward a dangerous theory known as the “independent state legislature doctrine," which argues that state legislatures have unconditional power to legislate on election issues and cannot be reviewed by any established checks and balances.
If this fringe theory — which has been rejected repeatedly by the US Supreme Court — is accepted by the current US Supreme Court, state legislatures could have unchecked power to control elections in the state.
