Institutions strike back
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
The Supreme Court rejected a once-fringe legal theory that would have granted state legislatures unchecked authority to run federal elections, gutting an argument cited by former President Trump's allies in the weeks leading up to Jan. 6.
Why it matters: At a moment of record-low trust in institutions, all three branches of government have now taken steps to fortify the guardrails of democracy challenged by Trump's unprecedented efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Driving the news: The Supreme Court's 6-3 ruling in Moore v. Harper dismantles the "independent state legislature" theory, which in its broadest interpretation may have allowed legislatures to defy election-related constraints imposed by state constitutions and courts.
- Trump's lawyers used the theory in 2020 to argue that GOP-controlled legislatures in battleground states could ignore the popular vote — citing baseless claims of election fraud — and send Trump electors to Congress.
- The Supreme Court's ruling, authored by Chief Justice John Roberts, was widely celebrated by Democrats and voting rights activists — many of whom also pointed to its implications on partisan gerrymandering.
In Congress, the House and Senate came together last year to overhaul the Electoral Count Act — a law Trump sought to exploit by pressuring Vice President Mike Pence to reject slates of 2020 electors on Jan. 6, 2021.
- The legislation signed by President Biden clarified the vice president’s role in counting electoral votes as purely ceremonial, while raising the threshold for members of Congress to object to electoral certification.
The Justice Department, meanwhile, is ramping up its investigation of Trump's wide-ranging efforts to overturn the election, which could result in a second federal indictment against the former president.
- Special counsel Jack Smith today interviewed Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who Trump famously pressured in a phone call to "find" enough votes to defeat Biden in the closely contested state.
- Fake pro-Trump electors have been granted limited immunity in exchange for their grand jury testimony, and at least one Trump campaign official involved in the effort is in talks to cooperate with Smith's office, The New York Times reports.
What to watch: The resilience of democratic institutions over the past several years is no guarantee that future threats won't succeed, as activists are quick to point out.
- Trump's indictments and Hunter Biden's plea deal have hardened Republican views that the justice system has been "weaponized," and several leading GOP candidates for president have rejected the notion of keeping the Justice Department "independent" if they're elected.
- "I do believe that democracy will win if we fight for it," former President Obama told CNN this week. "Our existing democratic institutions are creaky, and we’re going to have to reform them."
