To start, it’s important to remember that the independent state legislature theory relates to federal elections–i.e., elections for congress, senate, and the presidency.

If the Supreme Court rules for the gerrymanderers in Moore v. Harper, it would be a huge blow to efforts to stop partisan gerrymandering in congressional elections. A few years back, the Supreme Court (in a terrible decision) ruled that federal courts aren’t allowed to stop partisan gerrymandering, but the Court–unanimously!--promised that state courts could step in to fill the void. If the Supreme Court were to turn around and announce that, actually, state courts can’t get involved either, that would mean that state legislatures can gerrymander congressional maps to benefit their party–and no court would be able to stop them. That’s a disaster for fair elections.

Other potential consequences of the independent state legislature theory: state constitutional provisions that protect your right to vote–like those that guarantee your right to cast an absentee ballot, those that establish automatic voter registration, and even long-standing provisions that guarantee fair elections or equal protection of the law–could all become inapplicable to federal elections.

At the same time, because the theory only applies to federal elections, that could mean that these provisions would still apply to state elections, creating a “two-track” election system, where different rules apply to state and federal elections, that would be confusing for voters and election administrators alike.

This is just some of the chaos that the ISLT will introduce into our elections system, and it’s pretty frightening.

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--Ethan