In any other era, the Supreme Court’s upcoming case on who holds the final say on election rules would be largely confined to the pages of law review journals and back rooms of state legislatures.
But in the era of Trump, the case has taken on melodramatic proportions, with liberal activists warning that nothing short of American democracy is at stake.
Legal scholars are more circumspect, though some do echo the activists’ warnings that American elections could look markedly different if the justices side with North Carolina legislators and rule that state assemblies, not state courts, have the final say in how elections are conducted.