# Moore v. Harper The case that stopped the most dangerous election-law theory of the decade — but did not kill it. Decided June 27, 2023 by a 6–3 vote, *Moore v. Harper* rejected the strong form of the [[Independent State Legislature Theory]] (ISL), the claim that a state legislature's power over federal elections is immune from review by state courts under the state's own constitution. Chief Justice [[John Roberts]], writing for the majority, held that state legislatures remain bound by state constitutions and subject to state-court review when they set the rules for federal elections. ## Origin and Holding The case arose directly out of North Carolina's partisan-gerrymandering wars. After the state's Republican-drawn congressional map was struck down by the North Carolina Supreme Court under the state constitution (*Harper v. Hall*), Republican legislative leaders argued that ISL theory stripped state courts of any power to review the map. Had the Court accepted that argument, it would have removed the only judicial backstop left standing after [[Rucho v. Common Cause]] (2019) closed the federal courts to partisan-gerrymandering claims. The Court declined. But it did not fully repudiate ISL: Roberts wrote that while state courts may review legislative election rules, they "do not have free rein," and federal courts retain authority to ensure state courts do not "transgress the ordinary bounds of judicial review." The doctrine was narrowed, not extinguished — leaving a residual federal-oversight hook that future litigants can try to exploit. ## Significance *Moore* is the direct sequel to [[Rucho v. Common Cause]] and a load-bearing case in the post-2010 redistricting story. Together they define the current map-fight terrain: federal courts will not police partisan gerrymanders (*Rucho*), but state courts can — and that power survived *Moore*. This is why the [[Gerrymandering]] battles tracked across the vault now turn on the partisan composition of state supreme courts. North Carolina again proved the point: a newly Republican state Supreme Court reversed the *Harper* ruling in 2023, reinstating the maps the [[RedMap Project]]–era legislature had drawn. ## See Also - [[Rucho v. Common Cause]] — The federal-court half of the redistricting story - [[Independent State Legislature Theory]] — The doctrine *Moore* narrowed - [[Gerrymandering]] — The practice these cases govern - [[RedMap Project]] — The operation that produced the contested NC maps