Congressman Doug Lamborn’s new lawsuit against the Colorado ban on out-of-state circulators has been assigned to Judge Philip Brimmer, a Bush Jr. appointee. In 2013, Judge Brimmer struck down Colorado’s ban on paying circulators on a per-signature basis. That case was Independence Institute v Gessler, 936 F.Supp.2d 1256.
Ed Kilgore has this analysis of how California’s top-two system is subject to manipulation by both Democratic and Republican Party leaders. Kilgore is the political columnist for New York Magazine.
On the evening of April 25, the Eleventh Circuit stayed the order of a U.S. District Court in Hand v Scott, the case over whether Florida must create objective standards for deciding whether to grant voting rights to ex-felons. This means the state is not now required to produce some objective standards. The vote was 2-1. Judges William Pryor (a Bush Jr. appointee) and Stanley Marcus (a Clinton appointee) voted for the stay; Judge Beverly Martin (an Obama appointee) dissented. Here is the order. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.
On April 25, Congressman Doug Lamborn filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court against the state law that requires circulators of primary petitions to be residents of Coloado. Goodall v Williams, 1:18cv-980. The case hasn’t been assigned to a judge yet. Lamborn is forced to file this lawsuit if he is to get on the June 26 Republican primary ballot. A few days ago, the Colorado Supreme Court determined that two of his circulators were not bona fide Colorado residents. Here is the complaint.
On April 25, Florida state officials again asked the Eleventh Circuit to stay the order of the U.S. District Court, that the state prepare objective criteria on how ex-felons may apply for a restoration of their voting rights. The state had also asked for a stay on April 6, and the Eleventh Circuit hasn’t yet responded to that.
The U.S. District Court had ordered the objective standards to be drafted by April 26. The state says that just in case it cannot get relief from this order, the Executive Clemency Board will be meeting on the evening of April 25, presumably to draft objective criteria. But the state urges the court to give it more time.
