Cite as: 600 U. S. ____ (2023)
5
THOMAS, J., dissenting
rymandering claims present a political question that is nonjusticiable under the North Carolina Constitution.” Id., at
___–___, 886 S. E. 2d, at 400–401. It concluded:
“This Court’s opinion in Harper I is overruled. We
affirm the three-judge panel’s [original] 11 January
2022 Judgment concluding, inter alia, that claims of
partisan gerrymandering present nonjusticiable, political questions and dismissing all of plaintiffs’ claims
with prejudice. This Court’s opinion in Harper II is
withdrawn and superseded by this opinion. The threejudge panel’s 23 February 2022 order addressing the
Remedial Plans is vacated. Plaintiffs’ claims are dismissed with prejudice.” Id., at ___, 886 S. E. 2d, at 449.
In short, this case is over, and petitioners won. The trial
court’s original final judgment in favor of petitioners, affirmed by the State Supreme Court in Harper III, represents “the final determination of the rights of the parties”
in this case. N. C. Rule Civ. Proc. 54(a) (2023). Harper I
has been overruled, and plaintiffs-respondents’ claims for
relief have been dismissed on adequate and independent
state-law grounds. As a result, petitioners’ alternative
Elections Clause defense to those claims no longer requires
decision; the merits of that defense simply have no bearing
on the judgment between the parties in this action. That is
the definition of mootness for an issue.
It follows that no live controversy remains before this
Court. For any case or controversy to exist here, petitioners
must be injured by the judgment below, and we must be
able to redress that injury by acting upon that judgment.
See, e.g., Food Marketing Institute v. Argus Leader Media,
588 U. S. ___, ___ (2019) (slip op., at 4); see also Ex parte
Bollman, 4 Cranch 75, 86 (1807) (“The criterion [of] appellate . . . jurisdiction, is that it revises and corrects the decisions of another tribunal”). But petitioners are not injured
by the judgment of Harper I at all, nor could we redress any
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