On November 8, the state of Washington asked the U.S. Supreme Court not to hear Chiafalo v Washington, 19-465. This is the case over whether Washington violated the U.S. Constitution when it fined three presidential electors after they voted for someone other than Hillary Clinton in December 2016.

The state’s brief says there is an “unbroken practice” since the Constitution has been in effect that electors do not vote for someone other than the person who received the most popular votes in that state. This is false. Here is the state’s brief.

On November 7, the Ninth Circuit heard oral argument in Merritt v Padilla, 18-55457, the case over an independent candidate’s right to place a title above his own statement of qualifications (in the voter guide, which is sent to every voter in the postal mail) saying he is an independent candidate. Paul Merritt paid to have his statement in the guide when he ran for US Senate in 2016. He started his statement with his own title, saying he is an independent.

Without even telling him, the Secretary of State deleted that title. He then sued, arguing that the First Amendment protected his self-dsecription, and also that it violated due process for the Secretary to have not even consulted with him before doing that. The U.S. District Court ruled in favor of the government. Here is the audio of the hearing, which was before Judge M. Margaret McKeown (a Clinton appointee); Joseph Jerome Farris (a Carter appointee), and a visiting U.S. District Court Judge from Illinois, Virginia Kendall (a Bush Jr. appointee).

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is preparing to file paperwork to qualify for the Democratic presidential primary in Alabama, ahead of a Friday deadline. The move would be a first step toward a national campaign, though Bloomberg has not made a final decision to run.

Alabama has the first deadline for a primary ballot.