On February 23, the Georgia Libertarian Party filed this request for a rehearing in Cowen v Raffensperger, 21-13199, in the Eleventh Circuit. This is the case over ballot access for minor party and independent candidates for U.S. House in Georgia. The U.S. District Court had invalidated the law, but on January 7, 2022, the Eleventh Circuit had reinstated it.
President Joe Biden will deliver his State of the Union speech on March 1. The Republican Party will have a response. The Working Families Party also plans a response. The WFP speech will be by Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, and will be live-streamed on the WFP facebook page. This is the second year in a row the WFP has had a Democratic member of congress deliver the WFP speech.
The Fifth Circuit will hear Longoria v Paxton, 22-50110, on Tuesday, March 8. That is the lawsuit over the Texas law that makes it a criminal offense for an election official to suggest to any voter that he or she apply for a postal ballot. The U.S. District Court had enjoined it.
On January 27, the Rhode Island House State Government Committee voted not to advance HB 6622, a bill to set up a top-two system in Rhode Island. The sponsor is Representative Arthur Corvese (D-North Providence).
On February 22, North Carolina filed this brief in Cawthorn v Circosta, e.d., 5:22cv-50. This is the lawsuit over whether the state has the ability to make a decision on whether congressional candidates should be barred from a ballot because they don’t meet the qualifications listed in the Fourteenth Amendment, section three, concerning insurrection. The hearing is February 28.
The brief says the Socialist Party congressman from Wisconsin, Victor Berger, was unseated by the U.S. House in 1919 for violating the Espionage Act. The state cites this example to show that the amnesty acts passed in the 19th century for ex-Confederates did not eliminate the force of section three of the Fourteenth Amendment.
