DETROIT – Today, the Supreme Court of the United States issued a decision in Moore v. Harper rejecting the anti-democratic independent state legislature theory and ensuring that extreme state legislatures cannot take partisan control of federal elections and take away the people’s power.
Following the decision, Nancy Wang, executive director of Voters Not Politicians, which led the effort end partisan gerrymandering in Michigan returning the power to the people, released the following statement highlighting how today’s ruling upheld the foundation of our democracy and affirmed that every vote counts equally:
“Our democracy stands on the truth that “All political power is inherent in the people,” as stated in the Michigan Constitution. With this decision dismissing the so-called “Independent State Legislature Theory,” the Supreme Court has reaffirmed that truth. In recent years, Michigan voters have united to use direct democracy to end partisan gerrymandering and protect our fundamental right to vote, rejecting attempts by extremists to politicize nonpartisan pro-democracy reforms. We are pleased that the Court rejected extremists’ attempt to use the courts to take partisan control of our elections and take away the people’s power.”
Voters Not Politicians is the largest nonpartisan, pro-democracy organization in Michigan that works to strengthen democracy by engaging people across the state in effective citizen action. In 2017, they launched an anti-gerrymandering ballot initiative campaign to create a fair, impartial, and transparent redistricting process in Michigan and successfully took the power to draw maps from politicians and gave it back to the people.
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