Anyone who cares about free and fair elections should rejoice. ~Marc Elias
[T]he upshot is that between Milligan and Moore v. Harper… WE GET TO HAVE A DEMOCRACY… for another day at least. For another election, let’s hope. This was a term SCOTUS could have basically destroyed democratic elections and… they didn’t. I just want to say again that it is important that we do not *WASTE* this opportunity at democratic self-government the Court has by a thin margin allowed us to keep. ~Elie Mystal
Big news! Today, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Moore v. Harper – and with it, rejected the Independent State Legislature Theory.
Every democracy-loving Court watcher breathed a huge sigh of relief. And then did a happy dance.
I explained what the ISL Theory is a few months back. It’s a dangerous, democracy-ending reading of the Elections Clause of the Constitution.
But, to refresh… Under ISL, the state legislature – and the state legislature alone – has the power over federal elections in its state, including partisan gerrymandering, presidential elections – and even the choosing of electors. Governors, secretaries of state – even the state constitution and the state supreme court have zero say.
Under this theory, it would even be legal for a state legislature to award its electoral votes to someone other than the winner of the popular vote. In fact, retired judge and conservative icon J. Michael Luttig pointed to it as one of the primary paths Republicans would use to try steal the 2024 election. (https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/27/opinions/gop-blueprint-to-steal-the-2024-election-luttig/index.html “Trump and the Republicans can only be stopped from stealing the 2024 election at this point if the Supreme Court rejects the independent state legislature doctrine (thus allowing state court enforcement of state constitutional limitations on legislatively enacted election rules and elector appointments)”).
And today, the Supreme Court rejected it.
So yeah. It’s a big deal. So much so that even though it’s a totally wonky topic that’s difficult to write about – it’s on the front page of the Washington Post and the New York Times.
We deserve – you deserve – a moment to savor the fact that democracy survived for another day.
But … as Supreme Court guru (and video game enthusiast) Elie Mystal said today:
I just want to say again that it is important that we do not *WASTE* this opportunity at democratic self-government the Court has by a thin margin allowed us to keep.
The Court could have ended democracy as we know it this term. That it didn’t is a relief – but it’s a temporary one.
You know, it may seem a strange analogy, but it’s not unlike being given an extra life (which my Super-Mario-loving son calls a 1Up) in a video game.
We were on the edge there for a minute – our game was nearly over. The clock was ticking down to the last seconds, and it looked like we weren’t going to make it…
But suddenly – miraculously – we got a 1Up! And now time’s back on the clock again. Whew!
We’re still in the game.
That’s worth celebrating!
But … then what?
What do we do with that extra life? Do we sit back and watch the clock tick down again? Or do we take full advantage of the time we’ve been given … and run like hell?
Obviously we run like democracy depends on it. Because unfortunately, it does.
So today, we celebrate. We take a deep, clean breath. We fill up our buckets with hope!
But tomorrow … we run like hell.
Let’s not waste this 1Up, friend.
Let’s get to work.
Actions for the Week of June 27, 2023
Register to Join Fred Wellman on Thursday for Forgotten Democrats!
Do you believe Democrats should fight everywhere? You’re not alone! I’ve been working on this issue for years, both on the state – and now federal – level.
We all know that Republicans gerrymander the heck out of state legislative and congressional districts. Problem is, too often Democrats reinforce their bad behavior by not running anyone in those districts.
Can you believe that Paul Gosar (yes, THAT Paul Gosar) ran unopposed last cycle? A full 75% of the so-called Freedom Caucus ran either unopposed or against a Democrat that didn’t have the resources to run a real campaign.
Forgotten Democrats (https://forgottendemocrats.org) is a national effort to fix that.
So join me on June 29 at 8pm eastern to hear from Army veteran, host of “On Democracy” podcast, and former ED of Lincoln Project Fred Wellman for an interactive conversation – we’re going talk about how we’re building a community of people like you who are ready to roll up their sleeves and take the fight to red America … today. Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwkd-ihqj4oG9BwsgnaQXldoweL9bQzBVkv
(A note that this is no longer a joint effort with Mission Democracy, which decided to go in a separate direction.)
Send a Message of Thanks to Your LGBTQ+ Legislators! (+ Great Resource for Identifying currently-serving LGBTQ+ Legislators!)
We’re closing out pride month – so what better way to celebrate than to thank LGBTQ+ legislators. Not only are they fighting day-in and day-out for their constituents, but they’re doing so in the face of hateful, and very personal, attacks.
So often we spend our time trying to get legislators to do something.
This time, let’s show these legislators that we see what they have done – and we appreciate their effort.
You can use this form from Indivisible to send a message: https://act.indivisible.org/survey/celebrate-lgbtq-leaders/?utm_source=email&utm_medium=_20230626link2&t=23&akid=90161%2E2783%2E3YMzRR
Or you can send your own. Out for America has a great lookup tool, where you can find the LGBTQ+ legislators in your area. It’s a great resource! https://outforamerica.org/
Join Indivisible’s Twitter Space on Friday to Discuss the Supreme Court Decisions!
With today’s ruling in Moore v. Harper (in which the Court decided not to adopt the Independent State Legislature theory that would have been completely disastrous for democracy) the Supreme Court term is coming closer to a close. The last decision day is Thursday. So join Indivisible on Friday at noon for their Twitter Space to hear more about the impact of the decisions on organizing. It sounds like it’s going to be a great conversation. Here’s the link to set a reminder: https://twitter.com/i/spaces/1ypKddgwYXLKW
Check Out This Great Direct Action Toolkit From Long Covid Justice!
Long Covid Justice has done a great job creating a toolkit for designing direct action – specifically addressing making direct actions accessible to everyone, including those in the disability community. Definitely worth checking out, and sharing far and wide.
WHEW! GO TEAM!
P.S.: Why don’t you make someone’s day and send this pep talk to a friend or two? I bet they need it.
If you’d like to sign up to get this pep talk and action list in your in-box each week, you can do that here. Welcome, friend!
P.P.S.: If you want to help support this work you can do so via Patreon at
https://www.patreon.com/smalldeedsdone or via paypal at https://www.paypal.me/smalldeeds
My deepest gratitude in advance.
Thank you for reading. Thank you for writing. I read and respond to every email! We’re in this together. Don’t you forget it.
Small Deeds Done 