The high court will hear a major elections case that could hand state lawmakers unchecked power over elections.

WASHINGTON (CN) — Constitutional law experts are bracing this week for a case on the Supreme Court’s docket that could alter a fundamental tenant of American democracy: the administration of free and fair elections.

“There's really no way to soft-pedal what North Carolina legislators are asking for in this case; what they want will mean election chaos,” Eliza Sweren-Becker, counsel for the democracy program at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law, said during a preview for the case.

On Wednesday the justices will hear from North Carolina lawmakers fighting to keep a gerrymandered congressional map. Apart from its direct impact on voting in North Carolina for the foreseeable future, the implications of a ruling in the Moore v. Harper redistricting challenge are sure to be much broader.

In their crusade to avoid a court-mandated redraw of congressional districts, lawmakers have advanced a controversial theory that could upend elections. In its simplest form, the independent state legislature theory purports to give the state legislature unchecked supremacy over federal elections. This would leave state courts — which are normally inclined to check lawmakers' authority — powerless to intervene when lawmakers pass election bills that contravene the state constitution.

The independent state legislature theory comes from the U.S. Constitution’s elections clause,...

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