On December 28, the Ohio Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the lawsuit over the new district boundaries. The Ohio State Constitution was amended in 2018 by the voters, requiring that redistricting not favor any one particular party. The lawsuit was filed by voters and groups who believe the new districts violate the state Constitution. See this story about the argument. Thanks to ElectionLawBlog for the link.
All city elections in Tennessee are non-partisan, unless the city passes a law for partisan elections. On October 28, 2021, U.S. District Court Judge Eli Richardson,a Trump appointee, denied injunctive relief for Jenna Amacher, a councilmember in Tullahoma who is running for re-election in spring 2022. She wants “Republican” next to her name on the ballot, and filed a federal lawsuit. Amacher v State, m.d., 3:21cv-638. Here is the order denying injunctive relief.
It would have been surprising if she had won injunctive relief, because the the Sixth Circuit already upheld an Ohio law that does not permit party labels on the ballot for candidates for State Supreme Court Justice, even though parties do nominate for that office. Since that decision came out, however, the Ohio legislature added party labels to the general election ballot for State Supreme Court elections. Tennessee is in the Sixth Circuit.
President Biden has appointed specialists in voting rights to two U.S. appellate courts. Myrna Perez was approved by the U.S. Senate on October 25, by a vote of 48-43. Here is information about her background. She is now on the Second Circuit, which includes New York, Connecticut, and Vermont.
On December 23 the President chose Nancy Abudu for the Eleventh Circuit, which contains Florida, Georgia, and Alabama. Here is information on her background.
These are the first appointments of voting rights specialists made by any president to U.S. appellate courts since 1961, when President Kennedy appointed Thurgood Marshall to the Second Circuit.
On December 22, North Carolina Republican congressman Dan Bishop sued the clerk of the North Carolina Supreme Court in federal court. Bishop v Funderburk, w.d., 3:21cv-679. Recently the State Supreme Court issued an order postponing the 2022 primary from March to May. The Supreme Court did this in connection with a legal challenge to the redistricting plan passed by the legislature earlier this year.
Congressman Bishop wants to know how each member of the State Supreme Court ruled. The North Carolina Supreme Court has not released that information. The new federal lawsuit argues that the First Amendment requires that courts disclose such information. Here is the Complaint.
On December 23, the Maine Libertarian Party filed this brief in Baines v Bellows, 1:19cv-509. This is the ballot access case concerning new and minor parties. The Maine laws on de-enrolling party members when a party goes off the ballot, and restricting who can sign primary petitions, had been held unconstitutional on November 17, 2021. Afterwards the judge expected the Libertarian Party and the Secretary of State to come to a joint understanding on how to implement the decision.
But the Secretary of State declined to put the party back on the ballot, so now judge Lance Walker will decide.
It is normal for courts to put parties on the ballot, after the party has won a constitutional ballot access lawsuit. The U.S. Supreme Court put the American Independent Party on the Ohio ballot in 1968, and put the National Democratic Party on the ballot in several Alabama counties the same year (the National Democratic Party was an African-American party that was different from the Democratic Party). The U.S. Supreme Court also put the Harold Washington Party on the Cook County, Illinois ballot in 1990, even before declaring the laws that had kept it off the ballot unconstitutional.
Lower courts have taken similar action many times: in Alabama in 1990 (New Alliance), in Alaska in 1982 (Alaskan Independence), in Hawaii in 1974 (Peoples), in Idaho in 1984 (Populist), in Illinois in 1972 (Communist and Socialist Labor), in Kansas in 1982 (Libertarian), in Massachusetts in 1984 (New Alliance), in Michigan in 1984 (Socialist Workers), in Nebraska in 1976 and 1984 (Libertarian), in Nevada in 1986 (Libertarian) and 1992 (Populist and Natural Law), in New Mexico in 1988 (Workers World), in Ohio in 1970 (Socialist Labor), 2008 (Libertarian and Socialist) and 2014 (Libertarian, Green, Constitution, and Socialist), in Oklahoma in 1984 (Libertarian), in Tennessee in 2012 and 2014 (Green and Constitution), and in Wyoming in 1984 (Libertarian). There are probably other examples as well. In Maine itself, the Reform Party sued in 1996, but then the state agreed it had qualified for the ballot, so the court didn’t need to make a ruling.
