“The Intratextual Independent ‘Legislature’ and the Elections Clause”

Northwestern University Law Review Online is pleased to announce its publication of Professor Michael Morley’s most recent essay, The Intratextual Independent “Legislature” and the Elections Clause.

In the essay, Professor Michael Morley assesses the Constitution’s Elections Clause and how the Supreme Court might interpret the clause in Arizona State Legislature v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (set for oral argument on March 2). The case will decide whether an Arizona voter initiative vesting congressional redistricting authority in an independent commission rather than the state legislature violates the Constitution’s Elections Clause. Morley employs “intratextualism” to interpret the Elections Clause, carefully assessing the use of “legislature” in other parts of the United States Constitution and founding-era state constitutions. This analysis leads Morley to conclude that the Arizona’s voter initiative is unconstitutional, because it completely removes the state legislature’s congressional redistricting authority.

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