From the introduction to this brief:
Democracies do not necessarily live forever. Sometimes, they die. Amici’s scholarship shows that they often erode from within, through the degradation of free and fair elections and the capture of independent courts or electoral commissions by ruling parties seeking to expand and entrench their own power. Over the last 20 years, political scientists have documented and analyzed these patterns of democratic backsliding in countries like Hungary, Turkey, and Venezuela. The process is typically piecemeal—so gradual that it may not “set off society’s alarm bells.” Steven Levitsky & Daniel Ziblatt, How Democracies Die 6 (2018).
Such backsliding is happening now in North Carolina. And Judge Griffin’s effort, to invalidate tens of thousands of votes retroactively and overturn an election in the absence of any evidence of fraud or impropriety, is a dramatic escalation.
If we saw this happening in another country, we would know what to call it.
This is no ordinary legal dispute. Alarm bells should be ringing. From the perspective of political scientists and scholars whostudy the breakdown of democracy, Judge Griffin’s actions represent a profound challenge: Will an American state break with democratic norms and overturn an election decided by a majority of voters? Or will Judge Griffin’s efforts be rejected, despite the ruling party’s wishes?
One thing that separates North Carolina from Hungary or Venezuela is the ability of federal courts to enforce democratic norms embodied in federal law. Most nations do not have the benefit of an independent, politically insulated, supervening judicial authority with a duty to effectuate fundamental democratic commitments. But North Carolina has that, in the form of this Court. This Court should assert jurisdiction here, to enforce the statutory and constitutional rules that prohibit retroactively invalidating thousands of votes and to prevent further degradation of democracy in North Carolina.
Update: Griffin opposes the filing of this brief on timing grounds.