2
MOORE v. HARPER
Syllabus
defendants’ request to rehear that remedial decision in Harper II. The
court ultimately withdrew the opinion in Harper II concerning the remedial maps and overruled Harper I, repudiating its holding that partisan gerrymandering claims are justiciable under the North Carolina
Constitution. The court dismissed plaintiffs’ claims but did not reinstate the 2021 congressional plans struck down in Harper I under the
State Constitution. This Court has entertained two rounds of supplemental briefing on jurisdictional questions in light of the state court’s
rehearing proceedings.
Held:
1. This Court has jurisdiction to review the judgment of the North
Carolina Supreme Court in Harper I that adjudicated the Federal
Elections Clause issue. A corollary to this Court’s jurisdiction over
“Cases” and “Controversies” is that there must exist a dispute “at all
stages of review, not merely at the time the complaint is filed.” Genesis
HealthCare Corp. v. Symczyk, 569 U. S. 66, 71 (internal quotation
marks omitted). The North Carolina Supreme Court’s decision to
withdraw Harper II and overrule Harper I does not moot this case.
Prior to the appeal and rehearing proceedings in Harper II, the court
had already entered the judgment and issued the mandate in Harper
I, and the legislative defendants acknowledged that they would remain
bound by Harper I’s decision enjoining the use of the 2021 plans. When
the North Carolina Supreme Court “overruled” Harper I as part of the
rehearing proceedings, it repudiated Harper I’s conclusion that partisan gerrymandering claims are justiciable under the North Carolina
Constitution. But the court did not purport to alter or amend the judgment in Harper I enjoining the use of the 2021 maps. Were this Court
to reverse Harper I, the 2021 plans would again take effect. Because
the legislative defendants’ path to complete relief runs through this
Court, the parties continue to have a “personal stake in the ultimate
disposition of the lawsuit” sufficient to maintain this Court’s jurisdiction. Chafin v. Chafin, 568 U. S. 165, 172 (internal quotation marks
omitted).
This Court also has jurisdiction to review the judgment in Harper I
under 28 U. S. C. §1257(a), which provides that jurisdiction in this
Court extends to “[f]inal judgments . . . rendered by the highest court
of a State in which a decision could be had.” Cox Broadcasting Corp.
v. Cohn, 420 U. S. 469, identified categories of cases in which a decision of a State’s highest court was considered a final judgment for
§1257(a) purposes despite the anticipation of additional lower court
proceedings, including “cases . . . in which the federal issue, finally decided by the highest court in the State, will survive and require decision regardless of the outcome of future state-court proceedings.” Id.,
at 480. Harper I is such a case. Because subsequent proceedings have