In December 2017, a U.S. District Court struck down a Delaware law that said only members of the two largest parties in the state could be considered for judicial appointments. Adams v Carney, 1:17cv-181. However, in February this year, Governor John Carney announced that he was about to appoint judges for two particular vacancies, and the Governor’s announcement said he expected to appoint a Republican for one particular spot, and a Democrat for the other spot, as though the federal court decision didn’t exist.

Last month, the plaintiff, James R. Adams, asked the federal court to hold the Governor in contempt. The state has never asked for a stay of the federal court decision. There is no decision yet from the federal court about the motion concerning the governor.

The U.S. Supreme Court will consider whether to hear Independent Party v Padilla, 17-1200, on March 23. It will consider whether to hear Tripp v Scholz, 17-1129, on March 29. The first case is from California and the second one is from Illinois. The Court never reveals what it has decided at its normal Thursday or Friday conferences until the following Monday.

On June 5, Montana holds partisan primaries. Technically all qualified parties in Montana nominate by primary, but the state has almost never before printed up any primary ballots for parties other than Republican or Democratic. Generally minor parties don’t have contested primaries, and Montana doesn’t print primary ballots for parties with no contests.

However, this year the Green Party has two candidates running against each other for U.S. Senate, so there will be Green Party primary ballots. See this story.