On May 8, the Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives, and the Clerk of the State House, filed this brief in Libby v Fecteau, 24A1051. This case arose when the House disciplined Representative Laurel D. Libby for having posted on social media a picture of a transgender high school student. Her post included the student’s name. The House said that Libby must remove the social media posting and apologize for having posted it, but she refused, so the House ruled that she cannot vote until the end of the session, or until she changes her mind. Libby then sued, but lost in the lower federal courts.
On May 4, proponents of one particular Florida initiative filed a federal lawsuit to overturn new restrictions on petitioning for Florida initiatives. Florida Decides Healthcare v Byrd, n.d., 4:25cv-211. The lawsuit was filed only two days after the new restrictions, included in House Bill 1205, had been signed into law. Here is the Complaint. Page 21 and the following pages list the challenged restrictions. The first part of the Complaint as a history of previous attempts by the Florida legislature to make it difficult to qualify initiatives.
Among the challenged restrictions is the ban on out-of-state circulators. The case also challenges the fact that the new law goes into effect in the middle of the initiative drive. The case is assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Mark E. Walker, an Obama appointee.
A party named the Moderate Party has been formed in Nassau County, New York. It is petitioning to get on the ballot for Nassau County office this year. See this story. Nassau County adjoins New York city and is the state’s second most populous county outside of New York city.
On May 6, Andrew Cuomo, running for Mayor of New York city this year, said he will seek to be on the ballot as an independent, with the label “Fight and Deliver.” He is also seeking the Democratic nomination in the June 2025 primary. See this story.
On May 6, the Eleventh Circuit refused to rehear Polelle v Florida Secretary of State, 22-14031. This is the case in which a Florida voter had hoped to obtain a ruling that Florida’s closed primaries are unconstitutional. The original decision of the Eleventh Circuit had upheld closed primaries, although it did say the voter had standing.