On March 8, U.S. District Court Judge Mark Walker refused to let the National Republican Senate Committee, and the Republican Governors Association, subpoena various supporters of the lawsuit Jacobson v Ertel, n.d., 4:18cv-262. This is the lawsuit in which the Democratic Party challenges the Florida law that gives the top line on the ballot to the party that won the last gubernatorial election. Republicans have enjoyed the top line on the ballot for all their nominees for over twenty years in Florida, and will again in 2020 if this lawsuit does not succeed.

The National Republican Senate Committee and the Republican Governors Association intervened in the case last year, but they did not exercise their right to depose anyone on the Democratic side until after the deadline for requesting discovery. But Judge Walker refused to bend the deadline. It is somewhat odd that the national Republican bodies wanted to depose anyone, because the state of Florida had not asked for depositions. It is not known what the purpose of the depositions would have been. Perhaps that the Republicans wanted to show that the Democrats are hypocritical on the ballot order issue.

The pretrial conference in this case will be May 7, 2019, and then a trial will be held, and dueling experts on each side will talk about whether having the top line on the ballot influences voter behavior. If it does, then the state is obliged to have a neutral procedure to give each candidate a chance for the top line.