On August 12, U.S. District Court Judge Dana L. Christensen, an Obama appointee, struck down a Montana campaign finance law that controls the names of Political Action Committees. Doctors for a Healthy Montana v Fox, 9:20cv-46. The law says the name of the PAC must bear a name that tells the “economic or special interest” of a majority of donors to the PAC. The opinion says the law violates the First Amendment. It also points out that over time, the identity of the donors to that PAC might vary, and thus the law forces it to repeatedly change its name. Thanks to the Institute for Free Speech for the link.

Judge Christensen is also the judge who is handling the lawsuit over whether the Green Party should be on the ballot this year.

On August 13, the U.S. Supreme Court voted 6-3 not to stay a decision of lower federal courts in Rhode Island that let the Secretary of State waive the requirement that a voter who needs an absentee ballot must notarize his or her application. Republican National Committee v Common Cause Rhode Island, 20A28.

This is the first time this year that the Republican Party has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to take an action relating to election laws and the health crisis, in which the Court has refused the party’s request.

The three dissenting justices are Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, and Neil Gorsuch. Here is the Election Law Blog story.

On August 12, Michigan filed this opening brief in Graveline v Benson, 20-1337, the case over the number of signatures for statewide independent candidates. This is not a case that involves the health crisis. It is the latest round in the case that began in 2018, when independent candidate Chris Graveline filed a lawsuit against the law requiring him to obtain 30,000 signatures to run for Attorney General. He won the case in the U.S. District Court, and now the state is trying to get it reversed.