On April 25, the Institute for Free Speech filed this 14-page amicus curiae brief in Utah Republican Party v Cox, 16-4091. The case itself is over whether the Utah Republican Party must permit petitioning candidates to get on its primary ballot, or whether it should be allowed to limit its primary ballot to candidates who showed substantial support at a party meeting. The party lost the case by 2-1 on March 20, but then asked for reconsideration. The panel has asked the state to respond to the request for reconsideration, which shows the judges are taking the request seriously.

The Institute for Free Speech attacks the majority opinion for holding that an association’s interest should be determined, not by what the group’s official position is, but on what the majority imagines is the interest of the rank-and-file members of the association.

Real Clear Politics has this essay by journalist Morton Kondracke, who advocates that Ohio Governor John Kasich run for president in 2020 as an independent.

The article quotes John Weaver, a consultant, as saying that it would cost $100,000,000 to get an independent presidential candidate on the ballot in all fifty states. This is ludicrously inaccurate.

On May 1, Illinois State Senator William “Sam” McCann filed a federal lawsuit against the leader of the Republican Party in the State Senate. He complains that the Illinois Republicans expelled him from the Republican caucus, and now he is deprived of resources to represent his district. McCann v Brady, 1:18cv-3115, n.d.

McCann announced last month that he will be the Conservative Party nominee for Governor of Illinois this year. But he says he never resigned from the Republican caucus. It is not clear why his lawsuit was filed in the northern district, because Springfield, the state capital, is in the central district. The complaint says both McCann and the Republican Party caucus have offices inside the northern district.

Paragraph 41 of the complaint lists all the perks provided to members of party caucuses. These perks are all funded from government funds. The case is assigned to Judge Andrea R. Wood, an Obama appointee.