North Carolina congressional and legislative (Moore v. Harper)

Another case based on the state constitution and largely but not entirely focused on partisan fairness. This report focuses on a standard that Duchin dubbed “Close Votes, Close Seats,” later cited by the state Supreme Court decision in throwing out the State’s Congressional plan and appointing a special master to draw a new one. This case was appealed up to SCOTUS and became elevated to a question about whether courts can second-guess legislatures at all (the so-called “Independent State Legislature Theory”). SCOTUS upheld the NC decision – but then just a few months later, several seats flipped on the state supreme court, and the new court simply reversed this decision and reinstated the original map. Read the report here.

Status: State court, decided 2022, reversed 2023.