Montana makes illegal for anyone running for a judicial post to reveal that any particular political party has endorsed that candidate. Last year the Ninth Circuit upheld this law. The plaintiff has asked for U.S. Supreme Court review. On March 29, Montana officials told the U.S. Supreme Court that they do not intend to file a brief in the case, which is French v Jones, 17-1255.
Of course, if the Court asks Montana to file a response, the state will do so.
The Alaska Supreme Court heard State v Alaska Democratic Party on March 29. The issue is whether freedom of association protects the Democratic Party’s ability to invite independent candidates to seek the Democratic nomination. A state trial court last year had ruled in favor of the party. When independents win the Democratic primary, they are then listed on the November ballot as the Democratic nominee, with no mention that they are independents.
The state is trying to persuade the State Supreme Court to reverse last year’s decision. See this story.
On March 28, U.S. District Court Judge Mark Goldsmith, an Obama appointee, issued an opinion in Rhodes v Snyder, e.d., 2:17cv-14186. It says that there is nothing in the U.S. Constitution to require the Governor to call a special election to fill the 13th district U.S. House seat (in advance of the November 2018 election), even though it has been vacant since December 2017. Here is the 17-page opinion. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the news.
On March 28, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in Benisek v Lamone, 17-333. Here is the 81-page transcript. The issue is the Maryland U.S. House redistricting plan adopted in 2011, which is perceived by virtually everyone as a gerrymander to help Democrats.
Here is the AP article describing the hearing.
The District of Columbia defines a qualified party as a group that polled at least 7,500 votes for one of the partisan districtwide offices, which are Mayor, Attorney General, Delegate to the U.S. House, Chair of the City Council, and Council-at-Large.
No Republican Party member filed to be on the June 19 Republican primary ballot. There were originally two Republicans who filed for Council-at-Large, but one withdrew and the other didn’t complete the filing process. However, write-ins are permitted in D.C. primaries, so it is possible a Republican candidate will win one of the nominations by write-in votes. But if no one does that, the Republican Party will lose its status as a qualified party in the District. There is no procedure for an unqualified party to regain its status, except by placing a nominee on the general election by petition and hoping that nominee polls 7,500 votes, so if the party does lose its status in November 2018, it won’t have its own primary in 2020, nor its own presidential primary.
