Posted on Aug 12, 2022
This conservative group helped push a disputed election theory
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https://www.npr.org/2022/08/12/ [login to see] /supreme-court-independent-state-legislature-theory-honest-elections-project
A controversial legal theory that could radically reshape presidential and congressional elections has had a vocal supporter in filings to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Since 2020, a conservative group advocating for more restrictive voting laws has filed multiple friend-of-the-court briefs to try to influence the justices, including with the claim that the U.S. Constitution gives state legislatures the power to determine how federal elections are run without limits from state constitutions or state courts.
The group calls itself the Honest Elections Project, which since 2020, according to corporate records filed in Virginia, has been a registered business alias for The 85 Fund. That organization has federal tax-exempt status, millions of dollars in donations and spending that are hard to trace, and ties to Leonard Leo — the Federalist Society's co-chairman and former executive vice president who helped build the Supreme Court's majority of conservative justices.
A controversial legal theory that could radically reshape presidential and congressional elections has had a vocal supporter in filings to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Since 2020, a conservative group advocating for more restrictive voting laws has filed multiple friend-of-the-court briefs to try to influence the justices, including with the claim that the U.S. Constitution gives state legislatures the power to determine how federal elections are run without limits from state constitutions or state courts.
The group calls itself the Honest Elections Project, which since 2020, according to corporate records filed in Virginia, has been a registered business alias for The 85 Fund. That organization has federal tax-exempt status, millions of dollars in donations and spending that are hard to trace, and ties to Leonard Leo — the Federalist Society's co-chairman and former executive vice president who helped build the Supreme Court's majority of conservative justices.
This conservative group helped push a disputed election theory
Posted from npr.org
Conservative
Elections
Supreme Court
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Congress
Posted 2 y ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Many legal scholars warn support for the theory from the Supreme Court could bring chaos to upcoming elections
Snead — the Honest Elections Project's executive director, who previously helped maintain The Heritage Foundation's voter fraud database as a senior policy analyst — says the independent state legislature theory is not "something that we just stumbled across to advance a particular political agenda" and, in his opinion, gets to "the very core of what it is to have a free election."
"I think it's something which we need to give a definitive answer to — when the Constitution says legislatures write the laws that govern our democracy, is that what it means or does it mean something else?" adds Snead.
But many legal scholars point out that state legislatures are the products of, and limited by, their states' constitutions and the U.S. Supreme Court has long deferred to state courts on interpreting state constitutions and laws.
Opponents of the independent state legislature theory warn that if it is ultimately endorsed by the highest court in the land, it could bring chaos to upcoming elections, make it easier to gerrymander maps of voting districts and clear a path for state lawmakers to try to subvert the results of the 2024 presidential race.
The court is likely to rule by next summer with its expected decision in the North Carolina redistricting case, which election law experts have been watching closely.
So far, however, the Honest Elections Project has yet to join the Republican National Committee and the National Republican Redistricting Trust in filing a friend-of-the-court brief for that case. (Both of those groups have cited variations of the independent state legislature theory in their filings.)
"This was simply a bandwidth question," Snead says, noting that the group plans to submit a brief now that the Supreme Court has agreed to take on the case. "We're, of course, very, very excited to see that the court is potentially going to step in and resolve this question."
..."Many legal scholars warn support for the theory from the Supreme Court could bring chaos to upcoming elections
Snead — the Honest Elections Project's executive director, who previously helped maintain The Heritage Foundation's voter fraud database as a senior policy analyst — says the independent state legislature theory is not "something that we just stumbled across to advance a particular political agenda" and, in his opinion, gets to "the very core of what it is to have a free election."
"I think it's something which we need to give a definitive answer to — when the Constitution says legislatures write the laws that govern our democracy, is that what it means or does it mean something else?" adds Snead.
But many legal scholars point out that state legislatures are the products of, and limited by, their states' constitutions and the U.S. Supreme Court has long deferred to state courts on interpreting state constitutions and laws.
Opponents of the independent state legislature theory warn that if it is ultimately endorsed by the highest court in the land, it could bring chaos to upcoming elections, make it easier to gerrymander maps of voting districts and clear a path for state lawmakers to try to subvert the results of the 2024 presidential race.
The court is likely to rule by next summer with its expected decision in the North Carolina redistricting case, which election law experts have been watching closely.
So far, however, the Honest Elections Project has yet to join the Republican National Committee and the National Republican Redistricting Trust in filing a friend-of-the-court brief for that case. (Both of those groups have cited variations of the independent state legislature theory in their filings.)
"This was simply a bandwidth question," Snead says, noting that the group plans to submit a brief now that the Supreme Court has agreed to take on the case. "We're, of course, very, very excited to see that the court is potentially going to step in and resolve this question."
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