In 2007, the Montana legislature moved the petition deadline for independent candidates (for office other than president) from June to March. In April 2008 the ACLU national Voting Rights office filed a lawsuit against the new deadline, on behalf of Steve Kelly, who wanted to run as an independent this year for U.S. Senate.

That lawsuit didn’t get mentioned in the major news media when it was filed. But now that the Republican U.S. Senate primary has nominated Bob Kelleher, who really doesn’t seem to be a bona fide Republican, the press is interested in the lawsuit. Here is one story about it.