On December 12, U.S. District Court Judge Clark Waddoups, a Bush Jr. appointee, ruled that persons born in American Samoa cannot be deprived of birthright citizenship. Here is the 69-page opinion in Fitisemanu v USA, 1:18cv-36. The case is in Utah because the plaintiffs live in Utah. This is the first time a court had ruled this way in a case on this issue. Thanks to Thomas Jones for this news.

On December 12, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed A2047/S5974. The bills had passed the legislature on June 20. They make it legally impossible for a qualified party to change its name. Previously, newly-qualifying parties were permitted to change their names, and the law was silent about whether old parties could change their names. Here is the text. Thanks to Joe Burns for this news.

U.S. District Court J. P. Boulee will hold an oral argument on January 7, 2020, at 2 p.m., in De La Fuente v Raffensperger, n.d., 1:19cv-5323. This is the lawsuit on whether De La Fuente’s name should be on the Georgia Republican presidential primary ballot. As things stand now, only President Donald Trump’s name is on that ballot. The Georgia election law lets state party leaders decide whose names should be on the ballot.

Here is De La Fuente’s brief, filed December 11. The state must respond by December 18.