On June 3, the U.S. Supreme Court will consider whether to hear the pending Alabama and Louisiana ballot access cases. The Alabama case is Shugart v Chapman, and the Louisiana case is Libertarian Party v Dardenne. The Court won’t reveal what it has decided until Monday, June 7.

The issue in the Alabama case is whether it is constitutional for a state to require more signatures for an office in just part of the state, than for a statewide office. Alabama requires more signatures for an independent candidate for U.S. House (in some districts) than it does for an independent candidate for President. Alabama has 7 U.S. House districts.

The issue in the Louisiana case is whether the Secretary of State had the authority to re-set the deadline for parties to submit their presidential elector paperwork, a deadline that was earlier than a similar deadline set by the Governor. The Libertarian, Socialist and Reform Parties were all kept off the ballot for President, even though they complied with the gubernatorial deadline. They did not comply with the Secretary of State’s deadline. Both officials set deadlines that varied from the statutory requirement because severe storms prevented many groups from complying with the statutory deadline. Even the major parties did not comply with the statutory deadline.