On the morning of December 12, the Fourth Circuit heard Fitzgerald v Alcorn, 18-1111.  This is the lawsuit filed by a unit of the Virginia Republican Party, which is trying to strike down a Virginia law on how parties nominate.  Generally in Virginia, parties choose for themselves whether to nominate by primary or convention.  But the law says if a party has an incumbent who is running for re-election, then the incumbent can dictate to the party how his or her race will be handled, relative to primary versus convention.  The three judges are J. Harvie Wilkinson, a Reagan appointee; Diana Gribbon Motz, a Clinton appointee; and Allyson K. Duncan, a Bush Jr. appointee.  The Fourth Circuit web page will probably enable anyone to listen to the argument, starting on December 13.  So far there don’t seem to be any news stories about how the argument went.  The U.S. District Court had struck down the law.