On May 3, the Arkansas Libertarian Party filed this brief in Libertarian Party of Arkansas v Thurston, e.d., 4:19cv-214. The brief argues that the U.S. District Court should soon enjoin the new petition requirement of 26,745 signatures that was passed by the legislature earlier this year.
Green That Life: “How do you inspire the ‘unlikely activist’ to take action with you? One effective way is to appeal to people’s emotions.”
On May 3, the Sixth Circuit expedited Schmitt v LaRose, 19-3196. This is the case over whether Ohio county election officials are free to remove local initiatives from the ballot because they think the initiative, if passed, would be invalid under state or federal law. The U.S. District Court had ruled that such behavior violates due process, and that only a state court can take initiatives off the ballot for such reasons. Ohio appealed, and the Sixth Circuit will rush the case. All briefs will be due by June 4, 2019.
On May 3, a 3-judge U.S. District Court found that Ohio’s U.S. House districts are an unconstitutional gerrymander. The court ordered the state not to use the districts for the 2020 election. Ohio A. Philip Randolph Institute v Householder, s.d., 1:18cv-357.
The decision is signed by judge Karen Moore, a Clinton appointee; Michael H. Watson, a Bush Jr. appointee; and Tim S. Black, an Obama appointee. The decision is 301 pages. Thanks to Rick Hasen for this news.
Minnesota will hold presidential primaries in 2020, and all four of the qualified parties are eligible to have one. The four parties are Republican, Democratic-Farmer-Labor, Legal Marijuana Now, and Grassroots-Legalize Marijuana.
This is the second time that any Minnesota party, other than the Democratic and Republican Parties, has been eligible for its own presidential primary. Minnesota also had presidential primaries in 1916, 1952, 1956, and 1992, but in those years, only the two major parties were ballot-qualified, except that in 1916, the Progressive Party and the Prohibition Party were eligible, and the Prohibition Party used its primary.
The Minnesota presidential primary law in effect for 2020 says that candidates get on a presidential primary ballot by being chosen by their own parties. Minnesota, Georgia, and Florida are the only states like that. If a party doesn’t want a presidential candidate on its primary ballot, there is nothing the candidate can do to get on that presidential primary ballot. This type of law was upheld in federal court in 1992, when David Duke tried to get on the Florida and Georgia Republican presidential primary ballots, but the Republican Party wouldn’t allow it.
It is not known if either the Legal Marijuana Now Party, or the Grassroots-Legalize Marijuana Parties, will even want a presidential primary in 2020.
