The Michigan U.S. House seat, 13th district, has been vacant since December 2017, when Congressman John Conyers resigned. A federal lawsuit is underway over whether the Constitution requires a special election before November 6, 2018. The final round of briefs has just been filed. Here is the eight-page brief from the state government. It says the voters of the 13th district would be harmed if a special election were held earlier than November.
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.
On March 21, the Tennessee Senate State and Local Government Committee defeated SB 344. It would have provided that there would be no more Democratic or Republican primaries for U.S. Senate. Instead, members of those parties in the legislature would nominate for U.S. Senate.
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 March 20, the Tennessee Senate State and Local Government Committee sent SB 770 for summer study. This is the bill that lowered the number of signatures from 2.5% of the last gubernatorial vote, to exactly 5,000.
An identical bill in the House, HB 662, was taken off the House Committee calendar on March 21.
