The Independent State Legislature Theory’s Greatest Threat to Democracy

From Greg Sargent’s column in the Washington Post:

“One nightmare scenario is that a Republican state legislature, potentially with a Trumpist governor, passes a law saying the state legislature itself is the final canvassing board for the state,” Matthew Seligman, an election law scholar, told me.

“Under the theory, state courts and state constitutions would place no constraints on such a radically anti-democratic partisan putsch,” Seligman continued.

In my view, this threat is even worse — I would say much worse — than taking away state constitutional constraints on partisan gerrymandering. It will become an alarmingly realistic possibility, if the Court accepts the independent state legislature theory.

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