On March 5, the Initiative & Referendum Institute, and the Center for Competitive Democracy, filed this amicus curiae brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in Schmitt v LaRose, 19-974. The amicus lists each state that has the initiative, and tells how many initiatives have been enacted in each of those states. It singles out significant initiatives that passed.
On March 5, four political science professors filed this amicus curiae brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in Schmitt v LaRose, 19-974. The issue is whether the First Amendment protects initiative proponents from having their measures removed from the ballot by an election administrator, even though enough valid signatures were submitted, because the election administrator thinks the initiative would be unconstitutional or illegal if the voters passed it.
The professors are Todd Donovan, Janine Parry, Daniel A. Smith, and Caroline J. Tolbert. They have all studied initiatives and they believe the U.S. Supreme Court ought to hear the case.
On March 2, U.S. District Court Judge Wilhelmina Wright, an Obama appointee, struck down city ordinances in St. Paul and Minneapolis that require landlords to furnish new tenants with information about how to register to vote. The landlords were required to distribute a pamphlet prepared by election administrators. Minnesota Voters Alliance v St. Paul, 0:19cv-358. Here is the decision.
The basis was the First Amendment, which generally does not permit government to compel private actors to speak.
On March 5, Elizabeth Warren ended her presidential candidacy.
Free & Equal sponsored a presidential debate for 18 presidential candidates on March 4. There were two separate events. The first, from 2 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., included: Sedinam Moyowasifza-Curry (Green); Mark Stewart (Democrat); Ben Zion (Transhumanist); Brian Carroll (American Solidarity); Dan Behrman (Libertarian); Arvin Vohra (Libertarian); John Richard Myers (Life & Liberty); Eric Gerhardt (Libertarian); and Charles Kraut (Constitution).
The second event, from 6:30 pm to 10 pm, included: Mark Charles (independent); Howie Hawkins (Green); Zoltan Istvan (Republican); Mosie Boyd (Democrat); Vermin Supreme (Libertarian); Adam Kokesh (Libertarian); Jo Jorgensen (Libertarian); Ken Armstrong (Libertarian); and Gloria La Riva (Part for Socialism & Liberation).
Independent Political Report has these links to each event. The first you tube is silent until the six-minute mark, so anyone might want to advance the time to six-minutes. For those who want a quick impression, all eighteen candidates gave a one-minute introduction to themselves, and that can be seen at the beginning of the second you tube.
The event was held at the Chicago Hilton.
