May 08, 2023
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1- Here we go, breaking the norm right off the bat. We usually select quotes from articles that highlight the major points. This one we present in full as it could be a significant decision in the fight against election control.
The Epoch Times
Supreme Court Inches Closer to Decision in Major Redistricting Case
The U.S. Supreme Court is moving closer to deciding if it will issue an opinion in a high-profile case in which Republicans want the court to recognize state legislatures' power to regulate federal elections without interference from state courts, which they say the U.S. Constitution requires.
Many legal observers had speculated that the case was dead after a state supreme court overturned the ruling being appealed, but late in the day on May 4, the U.S. Supreme Court indicated it wanted to hear from the opposing litigants and from U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, the Biden's administration top lawyer at the Supreme Court.
At issue is the once-obscure independent state legislature doctrine, under which Republicans argue that the Constitution has always directly authorized state legislatures alone to make rules for the conduct of federal elections in their respective states.
The case, Moore v. Harper, is currently being deliberated by the justices after a marathon oral argument session on Dec. 7, 2022, which The Epoch Times reported on at the time.
Republican Tim Moore, speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives, is asking the nation's highest court to recognize that state legislatures have preeminent authority under the Constitution to make the rules for presidential and congressional elections without state courts getting involved in the process.
The Elections Clause in Article I of the U.S. Constitution states in part: "The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof[.]"
Specifically, Moore is appealing an order by the then-Democratic-dominated Supreme Court of North Carolina redrawing the state's electoral map against the wishes of the state's Republican-majority legislature. The state court had found the legislature-approved map unlawfully disfavored Democratic Party voters.
Republicans now represent seven of the state's U.S. House districts; Democrats represent the other seven districts. Some political analysts said the legislature's map would allow Republicans to increase their standing in the state's congressional delegation.
But while the justices in Washington were deliberating the case, on Feb. 3, the Supreme Court of North Carolina, which now has a Republican majority, decided to rehear the underlying case, known in that forum as Harper v. Hall. At that time, the U.S. Supreme Court also asked lawyers for the parties to file supplemental briefs on how to proceed.
The state supreme court reheard Harper v. Hall and then overruled itself on April 28, finding 5-2 that the General Assembly—not judges—have sole authority over the redistricting process. The majority opinion states that there is "no judicially manageable standard by which to adjudicate partisan gerrymandering claims" and that courts "are not intended to meddle in policy matters."
"This case is not about partisan politics but rather about realigning the proper roles of the judicial and legislative branches. Today we begin to correct course, returning the judiciary to its designated lane," North Carolina Chief Justice Paul Newby, a Republican, wrote for the court.
In a short unsigned order on May 4, the justices asked attorneys for Moore and North Carolina voters who favor allowing the judge-made state electoral map to remain in place "to file supplemental letter briefs addressing the following question: What is the effect on this Court's jurisdiction of the April 28, 2023 order of the North Carolina Supreme Court?"
The briefs are due by 2 p.m. on May 11.
The U.S. Supreme Court could decide to dismiss Moore v. Harper as moot because the underlying controversy that gave rise to the appeal no longer exists.
The court could also move forward with issuing a formal opinion in the case if the justices believe the issues at hand are too important to ignore.
2- God bless Kari Lake who is fighting hard to prove election fraud in Arizona. The AZ Supremes ruled that around 300,000 ballots be checked for missing signatures, forthwith!
Conservative Brief
AZ Supreme Court Orders Hearing On Kari Lake's Signature Verification Case
QUOTE: The Arizona Supreme Court has ordered proceedings in her case challenging Maricopa County signature verification processes in the 2022 election to take place "forthwith" while also denying defendants' attorneys fees and granting one sanction.
As reported by Just the News, Lake, who ran as the Arizona GOP gubernatorial nominee, lost the 2022 election to then-Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs by around 17,000 votes. She is now suing Hobbs, who is currently the governor, as well as Secretary of State Adrian Fontes and Maricopa County election officials, and is seeking to invalidate the election results or be declared the winner.
Lake's lawsuit was reviewed by the Arizona Supreme Court in March, which remanded one of her seven counts back to the trial court and allowed the consideration of sanctions against her.
The remanded count pertained to Lake's claim that Maricopa County violated its signature verification policies during the 2022 election, the outlet's report continued.
"The signature verification allegation was remanded to the Maricopa County Superior Court, which was waiting on the high court to determine if she must pay sanctions to Hobbs and Fontes regarding her claim of 35,563 unaccounted early ballots being added to Maricopa County's final tally," the report said.
3- We have been teased about Biden family accountability for years now. Let's see how this tease shakes out on Wednesday.
RedState
Comer Announces Bombshell News Coming on Joe Biden, 'Wednesday Will Be a Very Big Day'
QUOTE: House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) has some big things ready to drop on Joe Biden.
He's already sending a message to the Department of Justice telling them not to indict the president's son until the DOJ sees what the Committee is about to announce. We won't have to wait long because Comer says they intend to drop some big evidence on Wednesday. He said members have been poring over bank documents, and meeting with former associates and whistleblowers.
"When you have the opportunity to see the evidence that the House Oversight Committee will produce with respect to the web of LLCs, with respect to the number of adversarial countries that this family influence peddled in, and this is not just about the president's son. This is about the entire Biden family, including the President of the United States. So we believe there are a whole lot of tips that the IRS and the DOJ don't know about because we don't believe they've done a whole lot of digging in this, and we have.
"By all accounts from the media reports that we're getting, what they're looking at charging Hunter Biden on is a slap on the wrist. It's a drop in the bucket," he continued. "So Wednesday will be a very big day for the American people in getting the facts presented to them so that they can know the truth, and then the Department of Justice can finally do what they should have done years ago."
The word has been that the DOJ is considering charges for Hunter Biden related to taxes and a gun charge, and that they aren't looking at counts related to the bigger question of alleged influence peddling related to the family's foreign financial dealings. Once they charge, everyone will clam up and say they can't talk because of the "investigation." That will make it harder to get to the bigger issues.
Comer is saying they have far more than that small stuff. "We know exactly what this family was doing," he said. The GOP is planning a press conference for Wednesday with some of that information.
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