Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/22pdf/21-1271_3f14.pdf
Page Number: 26

Cite as:  600 U. S. ____ (2023) 

21 

Opinion of the Court 

sought to be imposed by the people of a State.”  Ibid. 

But the legislature in Leser performed a ratifying func-
tion rather than engaging in traditional lawmaking.  The 
provisions at issue in today’s case—like the provisions ex-
amined in Hildebrant and Smiley—concern a state legisla-
ture’s exercise of lawmaking power.  And as we held in Smi-
ley, when state legislatures act pursuant to their Elections
Clause authority, they engage in lawmaking subject to the 
typical constraints on the exercise of such power.  285 U. S., 
at  367.  We  have  already  distinguished  Leser  on  those 
grounds.  Smiley, 285 U. S., at 365–366.  In addition, Leser 
cited  for  support  our  decision  in  Hawke  v.  Smith,  which 
sharply separated ratification “from legislative action” un-
der  the  Elections  Clause.    253  U. S.,  at  228.    Lawmaking 
under the Elections Clause, Hawke explained, “is entirely
different from the requirement of the Constitution as to the 
expression of assent or dissent to a proposed amendment to
the Constitution.”  Id., at 231. 
  Hawke and Smiley delineated the various roles that the 
Constitution assigns to state legislatures.  Legislatures act
as “Consent[ing]” bodies when the Nation purchases land, 
Art. I, §8, cl. 17; as “Ratif[ying]” bodies when they agree to
proposed Constitutional amendments, Art. V; and—prior to 
the passage of the Seventeenth Amendment—as “electoral”
bodies  when  they  choose  United  States  Senators,  Smiley, 
285 U. S., at 365; see also Art. I, §3, cl. 1; Amdt. 17 (provid-
ing for the direct election of Senators).

By  fulfilling  their  constitutional  duty  to  craft  the  rules 
governing  federal  elections,  state  legislatures  do  not  con-
sent, ratify, or elect—they make laws.  Elections are com-
plex affairs, demanding rules that dictate everything from
the date on which voters will go to the polls to the dimen-
sions and font of individual ballots.  Legislatures must “pro-
vide a complete code for congressional elections,” including
regulations “relati[ng] to notices, registration, supervision