Posted on by Californiacontrarian

“The Left Hand … “

We have all heard the saying, “the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing.” This saying implies that there is some innate confusion on an issue, such that contradictory statements are made on that same issue by parties that should be saying the same thing.

Today I read about a somewhat obscure case in North Carolina that initially had to due with gerrymandering, but is really about a much more critical issue, especially when it comes to elections. 

This is a bit complicated so bear with me. 

The disputed North Carolina doctrine ( the heart of the case, Moore v. Harper, that is currently being deliberated by the Supreme Court justices after it was argued in December 2022) is basically which branch of government is designated to make the laws.

Years back the Republican legislature in North Carolina drew the lines which determined the electoral map districts. However, the State Supreme Court (then predominately Democrat) reversed the new gerrymandered lines (Harper 1). The case now before SCOTUS has to do with whether a judicial branch of government can reverse a decision made by a legislative branch. To further complicate this critical issue, the Supreme Court of North Carolina subsequently reverted to a Republican majority, which reversed the initial Harper 1 ruling. Now since the original gerrymandered lines are back in play, the Democrat-controlled DOJ wants SCOTUS not to make a ruling as Harper 1. The DOJ contends that Harper 1 is now moot!

At this point two basic things bother me about this.

First, why is the Department of Justice getting involved in this? To me the DOJ is only getting involved because it suspects that SCOTUS is going to rule that the legislative branch of government makes the laws … not the judicial branch of government. Again, from my perspective, even though Harper 1 is now indeed moot, a much more basic Constitutional issue is involved … who makes the laws?  I believe that the Constitution specifies that it is the legislative branch of government that makes the laws.

Second, as we saw in the 2020 Presidential election, the judiciary in some states arbitrarily changed some of the longstanding voting rules, and this may well have changed the outcome in that state, and hence in the nationwide result of that election. “Que sera, sera,” “Don’t cry over spilt milk,” etc. is what the Democrats will say when this topic comes up in reference to the 2020 election. However, remember that the Supreme Court in Wisconsin is now Democrat controlled, and Wisconsin could well be a critical state in the 2024 Presidential election.

To me Harper 1 is not a moot point. The Constitution specifies that the Legislative branch (the left hand) makes the laws, and thus it is critically important that any court, (the right hand), cannot intervene for potentially political reasons.

5/26/23

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