On July 24, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court heard oral arguments in Knutson v Department of the Secretary of State, case no. ken-08-375. The Court will issue its opinion on Monday, July 28. All five members of the Court who were in attendance asked questions of all the attorneys who argued. All sides agree that the independent candidate for U.S. Senate submitted at least 4,000 signatures of registered voters. The issue is whether some entire petition sheets must be rejected, on the basis of suspicion that the witness was not watching when the circulator gathered signatures on that sheet. The witness is the person who actually signs the bottom of each sheet, saying the signatures had been gathered in his or her presence. The evidence had established that the witness had not been watching when three particular signatures had been signed, but the candidate doesn’t need those three particular signatures.