Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/22pdf/21-1271_3f14.pdf
Page Number: 34

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

29 

Opinion of the Court 

this  area  are  complex  and  context  specific.    We  hold  only 
that state courts may not transgress the ordinary bounds of 
judicial  review  such  that  they  arrogate  to  themselves  the
power vested in state legislatures to regulate federal elec-
tions. 

B 
We  decline  to  address  whether  the  North  Carolina  Su-
preme  Court  strayed  beyond  the  limits  derived  from  the 
Elections Clause.  The legislative defendants did not mean-
ingfully present the issue in their petition for certiorari or
in their briefing, nor did they press the matter at oral argu-
ment.  See  Bay  Area  Laundry  and  Dry  Cleaning  Pension 
Trust Fund v. Ferbar Corp. of Cal., 522 U. S. 192, 206–208 
(1997); see also California v. Texas, 593 U. S. ___, ___ (2021) 
(slip op., at 10).  Counsel for the defendants expressly dis-
claimed the argument that this Court should reassess the
North Carolina Supreme Court’s reading of state law.  Tr. 
of Oral Arg. 7 (“We’re not asking this Court to second-guess 
or  reassess.  We  say  take  the  North  Carolina  Supreme 
Court’s decision on face value and as fairly reflecting North 
Carolina  law  . . . .”).  When  pressed  whether  North  Caro-
lina’s Supreme Court did not fairly interpret its State Con-
stitution,  counsel  reiterated  that  such  an  argument  was 
“not our position in this Court.”  Id., at 54.  Although coun-
sel attempted to expand the scope of the argument in rebut-
tal,  such  belated  efforts  do  not  overcome  prior  failures  to 
preserve  the  issue  for  review.  See  this  Court’s  Rule  28 
(“[C]ounsel making the opening argument shall present the
case  fairly  and  completely  and  not  reserve  points  of  sub-
stance for rebuttal.”). 

* 

* 
State courts retain the authority to apply state constitu-
tional restraints when legislatures act under the power con-
ferred  upon  them  by  the  Elections  Clause.  But  federal 

*