It’s cause to celebrate that on Tuesday the Supreme Court struck down the crackpot legal theory I wrote about in two recent essays, A Bad Case and Terminal Politics. The absurd independent-state-legislature-theory (ISLT) is based on an interpretation of the Constitution that would allow any state legislature to determine the outcome of a federal election however it chooses to do so.
Luckily for all of us (as well as for democracy), the Court rejected that theory by a solid margin of 6-3 yesterday.
Despite last year’s disastrous decision overturning a woman’s right to choose to have an abortion, this Court’s record on human rights is not all bad. Yesterday’s ruling went against a North Carolina initiative that would have gerrymandered electoral districts to an unconscionable degree.
So once again we’ve dodged a bullet, perhaps partly due to the powerful public reaction over the past year against the Court’s abortion ruling. That, plus the recent ethics scandals involving right-wing justices Thomas and Alito, have put the Court on the defensive.
This is confirmation, if one needed it, that the Court is not insulated from public opinion. On the contrary, it is very much a political entity, just like every other part of the federal government.
Concerned citizens, therefore, need to continue to make our voices heard: Most of us oppose the extremist movement that seeks to undermine the integrity of our election system, and we need a Supreme Court with the gumption to help stop it in its tracks.
LINKS:
Supreme Court Upholds State Courts’ Power to Prevent Gerrymanders (WSJ)
Supreme Court rejects theory that would have meant radical changes to election rules — The “independent state legislature theory” says the Constitution gives power over elections maps and voting decisions to lawmakers. (WP)
Supreme Court set to end limbo over Biden’s student debt plan (The Hill)
Putin Says Russia Is United Behind Him, After Quelling Rebellion (NYT)
Wagner leader Prigozhin begins Belarus exile (BBC)
What’s going on with Vladimir Putin after the mutiny? (Vox)
‘All bets are off’: An uncertain future after Wagner mutiny (Al Jazeera)
The story of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s attempted mutiny in Russia is far from over (Economist)
he West must now consider the possibility of a Russian political collapse (CNN)
Putin Faces Historic Threat to Absolute Grip on Power (Bloomberg)
Rental prices are finally starting to drop from pandemic highs (WP)
U.S. consumer confidence leaps to 17-month high on waning inflation and fewer recession worries (MarketWatch)
Why the World Is on the Brink of Great Disorder (Time)
Google AI ‘raters’ who were fired after speaking out are reinstated (Fast Company)
AI Promised to Make Jobs Easier. Workers Weren’t So Sure. (WSJ)
Meet the Humans Trying to Keep Us Safe From AI (Wired)
Will AI Really Destroy Humanity? (Barron’s)
I taught ChatGPT to teach me board games, and now I won’t ever go back (DigitalTrends)
he world lost an area of old-growth tropical rainforest the size of Switzerland last year, as deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon continued unabated, a forest monitoring project report said. (Reuters)
The alarming decline of Earth’s forests (Vox)
Humans have used enough groundwater to shift Earth’s tilt (WP)
Rising sea levels and big waves during this year’s epic winter storms have eroded the southern end of Ocean Beach in San Francisco. (Cal Today)
Since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, more than 1,000 civilians were killed in attacks, UN says (AP)
How many members of America’s political elite are direct descendants of people who were slaveholders? To answer that question, Reuters examined the family ancestries of more than 600 of the country’s leading officeholders. Such an inquiry has never been done. The findings form the first of a multipart Special Report called Slavery’s Descendants. (Reuters)
New Chase Card Offers 5% Cash Back On Any Embarrassing Purchase Employees Can Laugh At (The Onion)
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