On December 17, the Minnesota Supreme Court expedited the lawsuit De La Fuente v Simon, A19-1994. This is Rocky De La Fuente’s challenge to the Minnesota presidential primary ballot access law, which says that no candidate can get on a presidential primary unless that party approves of the person.

The Court ordered the Secretary of State to respond by December 31. If the Republican Party, or perhaps the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, wishes to express anything, they are invited to submit amicus briefs, also by December 31. The oral argument will be January 9, 2020, at 10 a.m.

The Minnesota Supreme Court has an excellent record on ballot access. In 2004 it unanimously invalidated a law that kept qualified parties from having any nominees on the general election ballot unless they had a high turnout in their primary. Also in 2004 it unanimously put a candidate for congress on the primary ballot, even though he was a fugitive living in Italy. But he met the constitutional qualifications to be a member of Congress, so because he had paid his filing fee, he could not be kept off the ballot.

On December 16, Rocky De La Fuente sued the Republican National Committee, President Donald Trump, and all the state Republican Parties that are not allowing a competitive process for selecting delegates to the national convention. De La Fuente v Trump, U.S. District Court, District of Columbia, 1:19cv-3753. The case has not yet been assigned to a judge. Here is the 18-page Complaint.

The Complaint reveals that many state Republican Parties charged a very large fee to get on the ballot, but did not charge President Trump any fee. The Complaint also reveals that the Republican National Committee and President Trump’s campaign committee are sharing office space, staff, funding, and operational resources. The Complaint says this has never before happened at this stage in the process, at least for one of the two major parties.

On December 16, President Donald Trump tweeted that he looks forward to debating his general election opponent from the Democratic Party, but criticized the Commission on Presidential Debates and said he might not participate in CPD debates. See this story. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the link.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit, has asked attorneys in Level the Playing Field v FEC, 19-5117, to recommend dates for the oral argument. This is the case that challenges the FEC’s determination that the Commission on Presidential Debates is in compliance with federal campaign laws that forbid corporate donations to federal candidates. It appears the oral argument will be in the spring of 2020.