On May 9, the Arizona Supreme Court issued a very short opinion in Hansen v Finchem, cv-22-0099. This is the case filed by voters who want to challenge the qualifications of two sitting members of Congress, and a state legislator, over the “insurrection” language in the Fourteenth Amendment.

The decision says, “By its terms, the statute’s scope is limited to challenges based upon ‘qualifications…as prescribed by law’ and does not include the Disqualification Clause, a legal proscription from holding office.” This seems to say that challenges can only be brought against candidates who don’t meet state laws (as opposed to federal laws) on qualifications. Arizona state law sets out age qualifications for candidates for congress, but doesn’t mention insurrection.

The result thus agrees with the decision of the lower state court, although the reasoning is different from the lower court’s reasoning. Thanks to Thomas Jones for this news.

On May 9, Maine LD 231 finally became law. It lets independent voters choose a partisan primary ballot, without having to join that party on the spot. Governor Janet Mills did not sign it, but she let it become law without her signature.

It took a long time for this bill to pass. It was introduced in early 2021 and passed both chambers in 2021, but then it was laid on the budget table, meaning it still hadn’t passed until the budget was settled. On April 25, 2022, it was finally removed from the budget table.

On April 28, Danielle Neuschwanger switched her registration from Republican to Constitution. On April 30 the Constitution Party nominated her for Governor of Colorado. Neuschwanger earlier this year had been seeking the Republican gubernatorial nomination. She had received 27% of the vote at the Republican endorsements convention, below the 30% needed to run in the Republican primary without a petition. See this story.