On December 5, the Fourth Circuit affirmed the decision of a U.S. District Court in Washington Post v McManus, 19-1132. The issue was a new Maryland law requiring web pages that carry political ads to report a great deal of information about who paid for the ad, and who prepared it. Both courts ruled the law unconstitutional. Here is the decision. Thanks to the Institute for Free Speech for the link.
South Carolina’s Democratic Party primary will be held February 29. Fourteen candidates will be on the ballot: Michael Bennett, Joe Biden, Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, Julian Castro, John Delaney, Tulsi Gabbard, Amy Klobuchar, Deval Patrick, Bernie Sanders, Tom Steyer, Elizabeth Warren, Marianne Williamson, and Andrew Yang. Candidates qualified by paying a filing fee.
The Post & Courier, Charleston, South Carolina’s daily newspaper, writes here that the state court still hasn’t issued a ruling in Inglis v South Carolina Republican Party. This is the lawsuit over whether the state party violated its own rules when it cancelled its presidential primary. The hearing was in October and it is odd that the judge hasn’t ruled yet.
The U.S. Supreme Court had previously said it would consider whether to hear Chiafalo v Washington, 19-465, at its December 13 conference. But on December 5, the Court added an entry to the docket for this case, which reads simply, “Rescheduled.” Presumably this means the case won’t be discussed until January 10, 2020, when the other case involving presidential electors, the Colorado case, is to be discussed.
On December 5, California Assemblymember Chad Mayes said he is switching his registration from Republican to independent. He will run for re-election in 2020 as an independent. He lives in Yucca Valley, San Bernardino County, and was first elected to the Assembly in 2014. He is a former leader of the Republican Party in the Assembly.
