Final week, the North Carolina Supreme Court overturned its prior resolution redrawing the state’s congressional districts, thereby reversing the choice beneath evaluation by the U.S. Supreme Courtroom in Moore v. Harper. As Derek Muller noted over at the Election Law Blog, this might imply that Moore v. Harper is moot.
Yesterday, the Courtroom requested the events for additional briefing in gentle of those developments. The order reads:
The events and the Solicitor Common are invited to file supplemental letter briefs addressing the next query: What’s the impact on this Courtroom’s jurisdiction of the April 28, 2023 order of the North Carolina Supreme Courtroom? The briefs, to not exceed 10 pages, are to be filed concurrently with the Clerk and served upon opposing counsel on or earlier than 2 p.m., Thursday, Might 11, 2023.
Muller additionally notes one other jurisdicitonal wrinkle on this case (additionally raised by Will Baude): How do North Carolina courts retain jurisdiction over a case that’s already topic to Supreme Courtroom evaluation?
Both means, the newest developments in North Carolina would give the justices an excuse to take away one other case from the docket. Regardless of the authorized deserves of such a transfer, it will find time for the justices to catch up on releasing opinions from argued cases.
