On November 13, four New Mexico voters filed a lawsuit with the State Supreme Court, asking that the Court accept their case and declare that the New Mexico Constitution does not permit the government to spend taxpayer dollars on administering primaries for political parties. Chavez v Toulouse Oliver, S-1-SC-37371.

Two of the voters are independents. One is a Democrat and one is a Republican. The New Mexico Constitution says, “Art. IX, sec. 14. Neither the state nor any county, school district, or municiplity, except as otherwise provided in this constitution, shall directly or indirectly lend or pledge its credit or make any donation to or in aid of any person, association, or public or private corporation.” Here is the brief. Thanks to Harry Kresky for this news.

New Mexico was one of the last states to provide for primaries. Before 1938, all parties in New Mexico nominated by convention.

The Tenth Circuit will hear Baca v Williams, 18-1173, on January 24, 2019, at 8:30 a.m., in Denver. This is the Colorado “disobedient” presidential elector case.

The Utah Republican Party is currently asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear its case over how parties nominate. The state government notified the court on November 13 that it will not bother to file a response.

The Republican Party has the support of many amici briefs from many organizations. A later blog post will list them. The U.S. Supreme Court web page has yet to be updated, so that the full list is not yet known.

The issue in the case is whether the First Amendment’s freedom of association clause protects the ability of a party to decide for itself how to nominate candidates.

If the Court is interested in the case, it will probably ask the Utah government to file a response.