Just days after Americans went to the polls this month in a hotly contested national election, politicians, scholars of law and history, and interested citizens are already starting to think about elections in 2024 and wondering what the state of the democracy will be then.  That is two years away, but before then the U.S. Supreme Court will explore a novel theory about elections that – if adopted as constitutional law — could become a direct threat to democracy’s future.

The Court is scheduled to hold a 90-minute hearing on Wednesday, December 7, on the case of Moore v. Harper.  The issue before the Court is both as old as pre-Constitution America, and as new as the attempt two years ago to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

Because of the complexity of this controversy, a series of three articles will appear in this space over three days, beginning tomorrow.  Part I will explain the theory and its implications.  Part II will review the history of that theory from the nation’s beginning, including past history before the Supreme Court.  Part III will go into the facts and the significance of the Moore v. Harper case, as it unfolded in North Carolina and then reached the Supreme Court.