The U.S. Supreme Court this week turned away a petition by 11 Republican Michigan legislators who sought to overturn expanded voting measures enacted through statewide ballot initiatives, bringing an end to the federal case known as Lindsey v. Whitmer.
The federal case was always a longshot, experts told Votebeat when it was first brought before the Supreme Court, which hears only about 150 of the thousands of requests it gets each year.
The justices denied the lawmakers’ petition without comment.
But their attorney, conservative legal activist Erick Kaardal, told lawmakers that he’s not done trying to challenge the election measures, which include no-reason absentee voting, and straight-party voting, passed as part of 2018’s Proposal 3, as well as early voting and ballot drop boxes from Proposal 2 in 2022.
The Lindsey case was based on a controversial legal interpretation called the Independent State Legislature theory, which suggests that under the U.S. Constitution’s elections clause, only state legislatures — not governors, courts, or voters through ballot initiatives — have the authority to set election laws. …