On January 17, the U.S. Supreme Court accepted both the Colorado and Washington cases on whether presidential electors may vote for any qualified candidate when they vote in the electoral college, or whether they must vote for the person who got the most popular votes in their state. Thanks to Rick Hasen for this news. The two cases are Colorado Department of State v Baca, 19-518; and Chiafalo v Washington, 19-465. The court will allow an hour of argument, in contrast to the usual 30 minutes.

On January 16, U.S. District Court Judge J. P. Boulee, a Trump appointee, refused to enjoin the Georgia law that says parties are the sole judge of which presidential candidates appear on their presidential primary ballot. De La Fuente v Raffensperger, n.d., 1:19cv-5323.

The same law had previously been upheld when David Duke had sued Georgia in 1992 over his attempt to get on the Republican presidential primary ballot.

Judge Boulee wrote that the Georgia law survives strict scrutiny because it is needed to protect political parties’ right to define their membership.

Bills have been introduced in each house of the Florida legislature to amend the oath of office that newly-elected legislators take at the beginning of a legislative session. The bills provide that the oath should be expanded to say that the legislator acknowledges that the National Popular Vote Plan would be illegal. Here is the text. The bills are SR 1458, by Senator Dennis Baxley (R-Ocala); and HR 323, by Representative Bob Rommel (R-Naples).

In the meantime, bills for Florida to join the National Popular Plan have been introduced in both houses. They are HB 335 and SB 908.