On April 23, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear French v Jones, 17-1255. The issue was the Montana law that made it illegal for a judicial candidate to tell anyone that he or she had been endorsed by a political party. The plaintiff had lost in the courts below, and was running for Justice of the Peace. The Republican Party had endorsed him.
This news story from Illinois covers the new Conservative Party that will try to get a gubernatorial candidate on the ballot this year. It happens to mention that Illinois law won’t let anyone circulate a petition to get a candidate on the general election ballot, if that same circulator worked to get a primary candidate on the ballot in the same year. The story also says that House Speaker Michael Madigan has a database of all the individuals who circulated for a primary candidate in Illinois this year.
The notion that Michael Bloomberg might be an independent presidential candidate is re-explored in this article by television executive Arick Wierson. Bloomberg was born in 1942, so in 2020 he would be 78 years old.
THe Ninth Circuit heard oral argument in Soltysik v Padilla, 16-55758, on February 8, 2018. This is the case over California party labels on the ballot. One of the three judges on the panel was Stephen Reinhardt. But then Judge Reinhardt died on March 29.
The Ninth Circuit has now chosen Judge Johnnie B. Rawlinson, a Clinton appointee, to replace Judge Reinhardt in that case. She will now listen to the recording of the oral argument (if she hasn’t done so already), and read all the briefs, and thus will be able to participate in the decision when it comes out.
On April 19, the supporters of Bernie Sanders who are suing the Democratic National Committee filed their reply brief in the Eleventh Circuit in Wilding v Democratic National Committee, 17-14194. The brief says, “To wit, Defendants want this Court to construe the First Amendment so broadly as to immunize a political party and its leadership from any legal liability arising from the making of false representations in connection with the receipt of money – or what the common law regards as fraud.”
The brief also says “Plaintiffs and the proposed Class members collectively paid millions of dollars in campaign donations based on a false belief that was perpetuated by the DNC and its former chairwoman through a series of false statements and ommissions: namely that the DNC was running (as it was obliged to do under its own Charter) a presidential primary process that was fair and evenhanded between the candidates and had not determined that one of the candidates, Hillary Clinton, would be the nominee even before the race started.”
