On January 19, the North Carolina legislature passed HB 605, which moves the 2022 primary from May 17 to June 7. If the bill becomes law, that would also give independent candidates more time to petition. Independent candidate petitions in North Carolina are due on primary day.
On January 20, the Ninth Circuit issued an opinion in McDougall v County of Ventura, 20-56220. This case is not related to election law. The case concerned the constitutionality of a 48-day shut-down of gun shops and firing ranges by the county government of Ventura County. The three judges in the case agreed that the order violates the Second Amendment. Judge Lawrence VanDyke wrote the majority decision, in favor of the plaintiffs who sued the county over its order. The vote was 3-0.
But Judge VanDyke then wrote a concurring opinion, coming to the exact opposite conclusion and upholding the gun rule. His concurrence is a joke, and does not change the outcome. He says he wrote it because invariably, every time a constitutional case relating to guns is in the Ninth Circuit, and the regulation is struck down, every time the losing side then asks for en banc review, and every time the Ninth Circuit grants the en banc rehearing and reverses the original panel. VanDyke says he wrote the concurrence to do a favor to the judges who will inevitably seek to reverse the 3-judge panel. He says he wrote it to save them the time and trouble. His concurrence is a satire, and it ends with the words, “You’re welcome.” Thanks to How Appealing for this news.
U.S. District Court Judge Robert Pitman will hear Bilyeu v Esparza, w.d., 1:21cv-1089, on February 24 at 9 a.m. in Austin. The issue is whether to grant injunctive relief against the new Texas law requiring candidates seeking a nomination at a convention to have already paid a filing fee.
The Libertarian and Green Parties are on the ballot, and are the only parties affected this year by the new requirement. They nominate by convention. Texas has long required filing fees for candidates seeking a place on a major party primary ballot, but that law has the purpose of keeping primary ballots from being too crowded, because no petition is needed for a candidate to get on a primary ballot. The new law has no clear purpose other than to inhibit convention choices.
Ted Rall, an editorial cartoonist with a left perspective, has this op-ed in the Wall Street Journal of January 19. He points out that Democrats removed Green Party presidential nominee Howie Hawkins from the 2020 ballot in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Montana, and yet the Democratic Party holds itself out as protecting voting rights.
The op-ed also points out that Democrats tried to remove the lower-office Greens from the Texas ballot in 2020, but failed, thanks to a ruling of the state courts. Thanks to J. Bradley Jansen for the link. The op-ed is behind a pay wall, but anyone can read the first paragraph.
On January 19, the Alaska Supreme Court issued a two-page order saying the top-four initiative does not violate the Alaska Constitution. The order says an explanation will be issued in the future. Here is the order, which came only 24 hours after the oral argument.
