On March 11, the Maryland Libertarian Party filed this 24-page brief in Johnston v Lamone, 1:18cv-3988. This is the case on whether the Maryland law on how a party remains on the ballot, as applied to parties with more than 10,000 registered members, is constitutional. State law says the Libertarian Party must submit a petition of 10,000 signatures to get back on the ballot, even though the party has over 22,000 registered members. The party argues that the petition is meaningless, because the purpose of the petition is to show that at least 10,000 voters want the party on the ballot, and it is obvious that a party with 22,000 registered members already has shown that. The state argues that a Libertarian registrant might have registered Libertarian long ago and no longer cares about the party. This Libertarian brief says that argument is not persuasive.

The Baltimore Sun of March 21 gives a prominent display headline, and two photographs, to this letter to the editor from David Griggs. The letter argues that the existing law is irratioal.

On March 21, 2019, U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan struck down a federal regulation that prevents political committees from including a candidate’s name in the title of its websites or social media pages, unless that political committee is an authorized committee of that candidate. Pursuing America’s Greatness v Federal Election Commission, 1:15cv-1217. Here is the 17-page opinion.

The decision is not surprising, because in 2016 the U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit, had enjoined the FEC regulation. Judge Chutkan in 2015 had denied injunctive relief, but the D.C. Circuit had reversed her on the matter of injunctive relief. The case then went back to Judge Chutkan for a decision on constitutionality. This time she concluded the regulation violates the free speech provision of the First Amendment.

The U.S. Court of Appeals decision was signed by Judge Brett Cavanaugh, who is now on the U.S. Supreme Court.

The case had been filed in 2015 by a committee that backed Mike Huckabee for the Republican presidential nomination, called “Pursuing America’s Greatness.” The committee wanted to have a facebook page labelled “I like Mike Huckabee.” But the regulation did not permit it to do that.

It is still illegal for an unauthorized committee to use the name of a candidate in its formal title. Thanks to the Institute for Free Speech for the link.

The California Globe has this story about the March 19 hearing in the California Senate Elections Committee on SB 27, the presidential tax returns bill. The reporter, Katy Grimes, appears to be the first reporter who actually watched the hearing and then published a story about it. UPDATE: watch the hearing at this link. SB 27 is the first bill on the agenda. The portion of the hearing on that bill lasts 20 minutes.