RSN: FOCUS: How Six States Could Overturn the 2024 Election

 

POSTED HERE:

RSN: FOCUS: How Six States Could Overturn the 2024 Election

RSN: FOCUS: Washington Post Editorial Board | The Supreme Court’s Next Move Might Cripple Our Democracy

 

06 July 22

Live on the homepage now!
Reader Supported News

KEEP GOING ... Keep doing what you do, I don't always agree with things on RSN, however, you are a beacon for the 1st Amendment!
Joe • RSN Reader-Supporter

Sure, I'll make a donation!

 

FOCUS: Washington Post Editorial Board | The Supreme Court’s Next Move Might Cripple Our Democracy
The Washington Post Editorial Board
Excerpt: "The Supreme Court agreed last week to hear a case that could fundamentally change this country’s democracy — by making it less of one."

The Supreme Court agreed last week to hear a case that could fundamentally change this country’s democracy — by making it less of one.

The decision to hear Moore v. Harper could lead to an erosion of voting rights and an increasing likelihood of election interference. At issue is a North Carolina Supreme Court case holding that the state’s constitution precludes severe partisan gerrymanders; the argument the petitioners make is that state courts shouldn’t have any role in overruling federal election rules put into place by state legislatures. This so-called independent state legislature theory has found little sympathy from scholars but appears to have garnered more affection from the current slate of conservative justices — four of whom have suggested they are at least willing to entertain the idea. The consequences of such a ruling would be tremendous.

The Republican-appointed Supreme Court majority would complete a nasty bait-and-switch by neutering state courts when it comes to elections: Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote in a 5-to-4 decision three years ago that federal courts could do nothing to prevent the same sort of extreme gerrymander. But never fear, he insisted, state courts could step in to protect citizens’ rights. Now, it seems, he and his colleagues on the right, with Justice Amy Coney Barrett a possible swing vote, are poised to go back on that promise. This would mean that state legislatures — their own makeup the result of heavy gerrymandering — could contort congressional districts at will to ensure one party has the advantage, playing with how much every individual’s vote really counts. Other harms abound.

Should the Supreme Court buy into this radical doctrine, governors and other state and local officials responsible for running elections might also end up with their hands tied. That could lead to chaos if legislatures set burdensome rules for voting in federal contests that conflict with less restrictive rules for state contests. It could also create manifold opportunities for mischief of the sort then-President Donald Trump and his allies attempted in 2020: Legislatures might remain restrained from deciding to ignore the popular vote and appoint their own slates of electors after the fact of a lost presidential race, but they could plausibly pass laws ahead of time establishing a process that allows them to do just that.

The reforms to the Electoral Count Act under negotiation on Capitol Hill could go some of the way toward mitigating the danger, and lawmakers should pursue those changes — but any law’s impact will be limited, and this development also risks snarling talks. Our democracy’s path rests mostly with the Supreme Court. If five justices overturn the North Carolina decision, they will know what they are doing, which is writing a recipe for election tampering. They will also know why they are doing it: not because the Constitution demands it, but because they can.

READ MORE

 

Contribute to RSN

Follow us on facebook and twitter!

Update My Monthly Donation

PO Box 2043 / Citrus Heights, CA 95611

A deeply troubling step backward

 

June 25, 2022

Since the Weekly Spotlight team was off last week, we wanted to take a brief moment to recognize Juneteenth, which we commemorated last weekend. It’s a day to celebrate the anniversary of the end of slavery and to reflect on the hard work our nation still needs to do to dismantle systemic racism in our country. If you’d like to learn more about Juneteenth, check out these resources from the New York Times and PBS. Onto this week, when we grappled with the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health ruling. It is a deeply troubling step backward, and it reflects larger problems with the structure of the Supreme Court. In Dobbs, we saw a slim majority use its incredible power to issue a regressive ruling overturning a 50-year precedent. It’s increasingly clear that the Supreme Court has too few justices who sit on the bench for far too long and wield far too much power. The court’s trajectory away from using its authority to serve as a check on government abuse of power is a symptom of this troubling concentration of power in just a few individuals. The ruling could also contribute to the proliferation of law enforcement use of surveillance technologies to enforce state abortion bans, which would have significant privacy implications for those administering or seeking reproductive care and beyond. Congress must act swiftly to enact legislation that significantly restricts law enforcement access to the massive amounts of data on the American public collected daily. In the coming weeks and months, the team at POGO will be working on both of these issues: reforms to the Supreme Court and policies to reign in law enforcement surveillance use. Advocacy in these areas will be key to building a democracy in which individuals feel protected by our judicial system and maintain a crucial sense of privacy. Weekend Binge All five episodes of POGO's The Continuous Action are out now. Listen to the complete series wherever you get your podcasts. RELEASE The Dobbs Ruling Reflects the Troubled State of American Democracy Today’s Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health is a clear step backward for our country. It’s also a symptom of a larger problem facing our democracy. Read More INVESTIGATION Sidelining Small Businesses Hundreds of millions of dollars in Defense Logistics Agency contracts may be illegally flowing to large companies instead of small businesses. Read More ANALYSIS Accountability: The Path to Improve Government Effectiveness and the Antidote to Authoritarianism Cynicism is high, and public trust in government is low. But by activating civic engagement around increased government accountability, we can help build a government that’s worthy of the public trust. Read More TESTIMONY POGO Calls for More Oversight and Accountability at the VA While progress has been made, reform at the VA’s whistleblower office is still necessary to ensure our veterans get the best care possible. Read More TESTIMONY POGO Urges Congress to Lift the Veil on Defense Ethics Records Public oversight is crucial to the success of any government ethics program, but far too many of the Pentagon’s ethics records are not reasonably available to the public. Read More LETTER Office of Government Ethics Proposes Ethics Rule With a Moon-Sized Loophole America deserves better than optional government ethics, but the top ethics office has proposed to let officials ignore a rule clamping down on large gifts of cash to cover their legal expenses. Read More LETTER Improving Transparency and Accountability at the Office of Legal Counsel The Office of Legal Counsel may be impeding the January 6 investigation. Read More LETTER Electoral Count Act Must Prevent State and Federal Officials from Overturning Will of Voters POGO asks senators to prevent election subversion, and to authorize courts to protect the will of the voters. Read More QUOTE OF THE WEEK “This $45 billion increase isn’t about national security or the American people. ... It’s about funneling money into the military-industrial complex.” Julia Gledhill, Analyst at the Center for Defense Information, in Common Dreams OVERHEARD ONE LINERS “Questionable at least is what we can say around academic institutions and the relationships they have with foreign entities, including foreign entities that are potentially at cross-purpose with U.S. national interests.” Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, Government Affairs Manager, in Inside Higher Ed   “You know, the longer it went on, the more people got involved in it and the more normalized that behavior became. And so we ended up with the massive scandal that we have.” Dan Grazier, Senior Defense Policy Fellow, on NPR   “Creating meaningful accountability processes for wrongdoing at DHS is an important step forward to addressing their culture of impunity.” Sarah Turberville, Director of The Constitution Project, in Government Executive   “In any one official’s case, there might be an explanation. But it’s hard to believe there is an explanation for all [77] of them.” Walt Shaub, Senior Ethics Fellow, in Forbes   “Like many past administrations, this one is all too comfortable inviting influence peddlers through the revolving door, and in Dunn’s case that door is locked in a high-speed spin cycle.” Walt Shaub, Senior Ethics Fellow, in FOX News   “Face recognition can turn body cams from a tool of accountability into one of constant surveillance, watching and cataloguing faces and tracking the location of anyone in view. This legislation is vital to prevent us from traveling down a very dystopian road and we applaud Rep. Beyer for his leadership on this critical civil liberties issue.” Sarah Turberville, Director of The Constitution Project, in Augusta Free Press

pogo.org The Project On Government Oversight (POGO) is a nonpartisan independent watchdog that investigates and exposes waste, corruption, abuse of power, and when the government fails to serve the public or silences those who report wrongdoing. We champion reforms to achieve a more effective, ethical, and accountable federal government that safeguards constitutional principles.

Project On Government Oversight 1100 13th Street NW, Suite 800 Washington, DC 20005 United States