How a major election theory case at the U.S. Supreme Court could get thrown out

https://www.npr.org/2023/02/06/ [login to see] /moore-v-harper-independent-state-legislature-theory-north-carolina-court
An unusual move by North Carolina's highest state court has raised the question of whether the U.S. Supreme Court will end up throwing out a major election case about a once-fringe theory that could upend federal elections across the country.

Late last week, the North Carolina Supreme Court — where Republican justices recently took over the majority after last year's elections — granted a request from GOP state lawmakers to rehear the case, which, at the state level, involves voting maps for both congressional and state legislative districts.

And depending on how and when the state court rules on the congressional map after its scheduled March 14 rehearing, the legal path ahead for this closely watched case at the U.S. Supreme Court could get messy.

Election watchers have been keeping their eyes on this case — known at the U.S. Supreme Court as Moore v. Harper — because it could have sweeping implications on upcoming federal elections. At its heart is the widely disputed idea called the "independent state legislature theory." It claims the U.S. Constitution gives state legislatures a special kind of power of determining how federal elections are run without any checks or balances from state constitutions or state courts.