U.S. District Court Judge Michael Fitzgerald, an Obama appointee, will hear Beaber v Weber on Monday, August 30, in Los Angeles. This is the lawsuit that argues the California gubernatorial recall rules violate the U.S. Constitution. The state’s brief in defense of the law is due August 24, and the reply brief of the plaintiffs is due August 26.
California SB 103, which would “fire” disobedient presidential electors and replace them with others, appears to have been abandoned by its author, State Senator Bill Dodd. Senator Dodd sent the bill to the Rules Committee in June and it has not moved since, even though it had passed the State Senate.
On August 17, Congresswoman Terri Sewell, Alabama’s only Democratic member of Congress, introduced HR 4, a bill to strengthen the federal voting rights act. Here is the text. Thanks to Electionlawblog for the link.
UPDATE: see this description of the bill in The Hill.
On August 17, Byron Brown, Mayor of Buffalo, New York, filed an independent petition with approximately 3,000 signatures, which is four times the legal requirement. He hopes to be on the November ballot as the nominee of the Buffalo Party. The 2019 legislature moved the independent candidate petition from August to May, so the petition is late, but he plans to file a lawsuit against the new, early deadline. See this story. The reporters who write stories about this subject seem uninformed that early petition deadlines for independent candidates or newly-qualifying parties have been struck down in over half the states: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, and Tennessee. Four times, the U.S. Supreme Court has struck down early deadlines (Williams v Rhodes, Anderson v Celebrezze, Lendall v Jernigan, and Salera v Tucker).
On August 14, two California voters filed a federal lawsuit, alleging that the California gubernatorial recall election rules violate the U.S. Constitution. Here is the 11-page brief in Beaber v Weber, c.d., 2:21cv-6558. Thanks to Politico for the link.
