As reported last year, four federal lawsuits are pending over whether presidential electors have a constitutional right to make a free decision as to whom to vote for in the electoral college. The governments of Colorado and Minnesota are trying to get the lawsuits in their states dismissed before the constitutional issue is decided, but the electors are fighting back.

Here is the 17-page brief filed on February 24 by Colorado Democratic electors Polly Baca and Robert Nemanich, setting forth why their case should not be dismissed, and also why they should prevail. The case is Baca v Hickenlooper, 1:16cv-2986.

In Minnesota, a Democratic presidential elector filed a brief in the Eighth Circuit on February 17, arguing that the U.S. District Court was wrong to dismiss his lawsuit on the grounds of laches (instead of merely denying injunctive relief), and asking that the Eighth Circuit remand the case back to the U.S. District Court for a decision on the constitutionality of the Minnesota law that unseated him after he voted the “wrong” way. That case is Abdurrahman v Dayton, 16-4551.