On October 10, former New York city Mayor Michael Bloomberg revealed that he has recently changed his registration from independent to Democratic. He apparently is mulling over seeking the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020.
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On October 9, the Utah Republican Party asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear Utah Republican Party v Cox. This is the case in which the Tenth Circuit had upheld a Utah election law, telling parties that they must allow candidates to petition onto the party’s primary ballot. The Utah Republican Party does not object to nominating by primary. But it only wants candidates on its primary ballot who showed significant support at a party endorsements meeting.
The text of the cert petition is 37 pages, case 18-450. It argues forcefully that freedom of association does not permit state governments to override the wishes of the party, as to how the party nominates. As far as is known, this is the first time any state unit of the Democratic or Republican Party has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a state law that tells parties how they nominate candidates, except for the 2000 California decision that overturned California’s mandatory blanket primary. The brief forcefully argues that the language in a 1974 U.S. Supreme Court case, American Party of Texas v White, that says “it is too plain for argument” that states can tell parties they must nominate by primary, was mistaken. In any case, that sentence in American Party of Texas was dicta. Justice Byron White, who wrote that opinion, was not being asked by any party to decide whether the state could force it to nominate by primary. He just added that sentence, gratuitously. But lower courts have long taken it to be binding. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link to the brief.
The Kansas Secretary of State has released a new voter registration tally: Republican 761,183; Democratic 416,780; Libertarian 14,859; independent and miscellaneous 464,421. These figures are not on the Kansas Secretary of State’s web page. Kansas is the only state with partisan registration that no longer posts registration data by party. These figures are active voters, not inactive.
The current percentages are: Republican 45.93%; Democratic 25.15%; Libertarian .90%; independent and miscellaneous 28.02%.
The percentages in February 2018 were: Republican 45.66%; Democratic 24.07%; Libertarian .85%; independent and miscellaneous 29.42%. Thanks to Rob Hodgkinson for the new numbers.
Virginia law lets all qualified parties decide whether to nominate by primary or convention. They are free to use primaries for some races and conventions for other races, in the same election year. However the law also says if an incumbent office-holder is running for re-election, he or she can override the wishes of the party. A unit of the state Republican Party is currently suing to overturn that law.
On October 10, the Fourth Circuit refused the state’s request for a stay of the U.S. District Court decision. The U.S. District Court had declared the law unconstitutional. The Fourth Circuit also said oral argument will be held in this case sometime between December 11 and December 13.
The order identifies the three judges who are assigned to the case. They are J. Harvie Wilkinson, a Reagan appointee; Diana Gribbon Motz, a CLinton appointee; and Allyson K. Duncan, a Bush Jr. appointee. The case is Sixth Congressional District Republican Committee v Alcorn, 18-1111.
On October 9, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to interfere with a recent Eighth Circuit decision that reinstated North Dakota’s requirement that voters at the polls must show an ID that includes a street address. See this description from Scotusblog. Brakebill v Jaeger, 18A335.