In cases from North Carolina and Pennsylvania, Republican state legislatures sought to block decisions issued by state supreme courts based on the respective state constitutions.
The U.S. Supreme Court refused on Monday to intervene in redistricting disputes in North Carolina and Pennsylvania ahead of the 2022 midterm elections. In both cases, Republican state legislatures sought to block decisions issued by state supreme courts based on the states' respective constitutions.
On Monday, the court declined both of those challenges, a relief to voting rights advocates but likely only a temporary reprieve, as four of the court's conservative justices indicated their desire to intervene.The argument goes like this: The U.S. Constitution's Election Clause says that the"Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof.
That said, it was the words of the modern-day conservative majority that drove voting rights groups into state court in the first place. In 2019, the Supreme Court ruled that federal courts may not intervene to prevent partisan gerrymandering of congressional districts. But the decision, written by Chief Justice John Roberts, said explicitly that state courts may enforce limits on gerrymandering under state constitutional and statutory provisions.
Kavanaugh was less definitive, saying only that the issue needed to be considered and decided at a later date."It is too late for the federal courts to order that the district lines be changed for the 2022 primary and general elections," he said.