At the oral argument on September 19 in Trump v Padilla, California Deputy Attorney General Peter H. Chang told the court, “Individuals don’t have the right to run for office.” However, the Copenhagen Meeting Document, an international human rights declaration signed by the United States, says “The participating states will respect the right of citizens to seek political or public office, individually or as representatives of political parties or organizations.” See 7.5 of the Document of the Copenhagen Meeting of the Conference on the Human Dimension of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, a document that the U.S. signed in June 1990.

That document is part of the Helsinki Accords.

See this article from Politico, which quotes Chang.

On September 18, the U.S. House Oversight & Reform Committee held a hearing on HR 51, the bill to create a state that would include almost all of the District of Columbia. See this story.

As of September 18, the bill has 218 co-sponsors, not counting two co-sponsors who are Delegates from Overseas Territories, not voting members of the House. The number 218 is significant because it is a majority of the House, which has 435 voting members.

The San Francisco Chronicle has this story about California SB 696, the bill to force the American Independent Party to change its name by October 29, 2019, or it will be removed from the ballot and all its members will be forcibly converted to independent voters. Thanks to Mark Seidenberg for the link. As the story points out, Governor Gavin Newsom hasn’t acted yet on the bill.