For more than 9 months, I’ve warned about the U.S. Supreme Court independent legislative theory case, Moore v. Harper. Contrived from thin air by GOP-controlled legislatures in North Carolina and Pennsylvania, the case posits that states should have unchecked power to manage federal elections by gerrymandering to their hearts’ content. “How’s that”, you say? You heard it right. Their vision is to permanently block checks and oversight on their power, and thus assure that no branch of democracy, no opposition, no citizen, no court can deflect their intent to rig elections. Ever!

Oral arguments were heard on December 7, 2022 in Washington, D.C. On the same day, Common Cause North Carolina held 5 media events around the state. I was among the Charlotte speakers, and focused directly on checks and balances. Listen here:

A week later, on December 16, 2022, the North Carolina Supreme Court issued two important rulings, one on gerrymandering (Harper v Hall),  the second on Voter ID (Holmes v Moore). In each case, the court found Republican lawmakers acted unconstitutionally to diminish the influence of Democratic voters — by passing a voter ID law that intentionally discriminated against Black voters, and by redrawing the state’s political districts in such a way that rendered many Democrats’ votes pointless in certain elections.

A sliver of progress favoring democracy, yes—but alas, short-lived. The November 2022 elections saw the GOP sweep nearly every state court election. With a new state Supreme Court balanced 5-2 in favor of Republicans, the Republican-controlled legislature asked that new court to overturn—without cause or precedent—the just-rendered December 2022 decisions.

The cases were reheard on March 14-15, 2023. Common Cause held a rally on the 14^th urging the court to let the brand-new decisions stand. [For the first time since the Covid shutdown, the 6-foot Flush GerryMander inflatable made a public appearance. See adjacent photo.]

Five weeks later, at 3 pm on Friday, April 27 (timed to bury it the weekend news cycle) the court overturned both gerrymandering and voter ID cases. The Charlotte Observer labeled it “a sweeping blow to democracy”, and noted, “The Republican justices have demolished the court’s standing as an independent check on the other two branches of state government.”

Supreme Court justice Anita Earls dissented, “Today, the majority strips the people of [the fundamental right to vote on equal terms]; it tells North Carolinians that the state constitution and the courts CANNOT PROTECT THEIR BASIC HUMAN RIGHT to self-governance and self-determination.”

So there it is! North Carolina is to be permanently squashed beneath the thumb of a single branch, a single party, a democracy naked of democracy’s checks or balances. Gerrymandering at its most vicious, citizens’ voices snuffed out.

The consequences? It’s now certain that the U.S. House map used in 2022 will be redrawn. While the legislature must conduct public hearings on map changes, we can be certain—after the court decision noted above—that the current 7-7 balance between Democrat and Republican seats will move to 10-4 or 11-3 in in GOP’s favor. As well, there is every expectation that NC House and Senate maps will be redrawn to further entrench GOP power.

We the People are left with no way to vote unpopular politicians from power. The court system—now a political appendage of the legislature—is useless as a tool to reverse the carnage. The governor?  Regrettably, he has no veto to save the day nor the state.

It is a staggering betrayal of our rights as citizens! This is precisely the nightmare that kept our Founders awake at night! I am deeply, deeply offended – as should be every single individual in North Carolina and the United States. What’s happened here can happen across the land!