Cite as: 600 U. S. ____ (2023)
11
THOMAS, J., dissenting
idea defies both common sense and civil procedure. A court
simply does not go on enforcing an interlocutory injunction—and imposing contempt sanctions for disobedience—
after reaching a final judgment dismissing every relevant
claim for relief. Rather, the interlocutory injunction (like
all interlocutory orders) merges into the final judgment
fully “adjudicating all the claims and the rights and liabilities of all the parties” to the case. N. C. Rule Civ. Proc.
54(b) (emphasis added). “With the entry of [Harper III ’s]
final judgment, the life of [Harper I ’s] injunction came to an
end, and it no longer ha[s] a binding effect on any one.”
Madison Square Garden Boxing, Inc. v. Shavers, 562 F. 2d
141, 144 (CA2 1977).
In any event, the majority’s analysis plainly does not turn
on the belief that any defendant remains liable to potential
contempt sanctions and jail time. Instead, its animating
idea (uncritically borrowed from petitioners) is that Harper
I ’s “judgment” operated against the 2021 Act as a statute.
The majority describes Harper I ’s “judgment” interchangeably as “enjoining the use of the 2021 ma[p]” and “striking
down the 2021 pla[n].” Ante, at 7, 9. It then reasons that
reversing that “judgment” would “negate the force of its order striking down the 2021 pla[n],” thus “alter[ing] the
presently operative statutes of North Carolina” such that
the 2021 Act would “again take effect.” Ante, at 7–8 (internal quotation marks omitted). The majority regards this
aspect of Harper I ’s “judgment” as entirely independent of
Harper III ’s final resolution of the claims in this case. See
ante, at 5–8, 10–11. And it finds its theory “confirm[ed]” by
a proviso in a remedial redistricting Act, passed immediately after Harper I, stating that the 2021 Act would “again
become effective” if this Court reversed Harper I. Ante, at
8 (internal quotation marks omitted). In short, the “case or
controversy” that the majority thinks is still before us has
nothing to do with the parties’ rights and liabilities on the
claims asserted in this action; rather, it is simply whether
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