A U.S. District Court Judge will hear Breck v Stapleton on Tuesday, April 4, in Great Falls. This is the case over whether Montana can force independent candidates in the special U.S. House election to submit 14,268 valid signatures by March 6, when the special election wasn’t called until March 1. The law also requires a filing fee of 1% of the salary, $1,740, unless the candidate is a pauper.

The case is now assigned to Judge Brian Morris instead of Dana Christensen. Both are Obama appointees. Probably Judge Christensen’s schedule did not permit him to handle this case, because it is moving very fast. The lawsuit was filed on March 22. The special election is May 25.