THE SUPREME COURT MAY GREENLIGHT A FRINGE LEGAL SCHEME THAT THREATENS THE CORE OF DEMOCRACY

On January 6, 2021, insurrectionists infiltrated the U.S. Capitol Building in a lethal attempt to stop the final certification of legitimate election results, murder the vice president, and attack Democratic members of Congress. Along with baseball bats, stun guns, and pipe bombs, they were part of a movement wielding a fringe legal scheme that right-wing leaders planted throughout the 2020 election cycle: the Independent State Legislature Theory (ISLT).

ISLT aims to nearly abolish checks and balances for state laws pertaining to federal elections. Now, the right-wing justices on the Supreme Court have created an opportunity to legitimize ISLT before the 2024 presidential election in Moore v. Harper. The stakes could not be higher. Our memo details this case and the fringe legal scheme driving it: