Opinion of the Court
and it did not prevent our granting certiorari. The concessions offered by the legislative defendants as part of the rehearing proceedings, the recent opinion issued by the North Carolina Supreme Court, and the legislative defendants’ briefing in this Court all tell the same story: Harper I continues to enjoin the use of the 2021 maps. Following the dissent’s logic and dismissing this case as moot would foreclose the one path to full relief available to the legislative defendants: A decision by this Court reversing the judgment in Harper I.
This Court has before it a judgment issued by a State’s highest court that adjudicates a federal constitutional issue. The defendants did not ask the North Carolina Supreme Court to vacate that judgment, that court did not purport to do so, and the defendants now concede that they remain bound by it. Cox Broadcasting considered our exercise of jurisdiction where the “federal issue … will survive and require decision regardless of the outcome of future state-court proceedings.” 420 U. S., at 480. Unlike cases in which we must anticipate what the future might hold, we now know the resolution of the anticipated state court proceedings. The record shows that Harper I finally decided the Elections Clause question, the judgment in that case continues to bind the parties before us, and the 2021 congressional maps would again take effect in North Carolina were we to reverse. Accordingly, we have jurisdiction under both Article III and §1257(a).
III
The question on the merits is whether the Elections Clause insulates state legislatures from review by state courts for compliance with state law.
Since early in our Nation’s history, courts have recognized their duty to evaluate the constitutionality of legislative acts. We announced our responsibility to review laws
