On July 10, U.S. District Court Judge Joseph N. Laplante, a Bush Jr. appointee, again blocked President Trump’s Executive Order on birthright citizenship. New Hampshire Indonesian Community Support v Trump, 1:25cv-38. The judge had previously blocked it on February 10. This time the case had become a class action lawsuit.
Politico has this interview with Russ Verney, who was Ross Perot’s campaign manager in 1996 and who was the national chair of the Reform Party.
On July 6, the America Party filed with the Federal Election Commission. See the four-page document here. UPDATE: Elon Musk says this filing is fake.
The party’s address, 1 Rocket Rd., Hawthorne, California, is the headquarters of SpaceX.
Whoever filled out the form seems to have made a mistake with the zip code. The correct zip code for 1 Rocket Road, Hawthorne, California, is 90250. But the form lists zip code 78725, which is in Austin, Texas.
The party’s treasurer is Vaibhav Taneja. He is also the Chief Financial Officer of Tesla Motor Company.
On June 30, the Texas Secretary of State filed a reply brief in Bilyeu v Esparza, w.d., 1:21cv-1089. The issue is the Texas law on how filing fees are handled. When a major party candidate pays a filing fee, the money is given to that candidate’s party. But when a minor party candidate pays a filing fee, the government keeps the money. The Libertarian Party argues this violates equal protection.
The state says equal protection doesn’t apply because major parties and minor parties are not situated similarly. The state says major parties have more voter support than minor parties. Of course, this is generally true all over the nation. If this theory were sound, than no minor party could ever win an equal protection lawsuit. Here is the state’s brief.
As of June 30, Pennsylvania registration by party is: Democratic 42.98%; Republican 41.00%; Libertarian .51%; Green .15: independent and other 15.36%.
Pennsylvania registration percentages in April 2024 were: Democratic 44.66%; Republican 40.13%; Libertarian .49%; Green .12%; independent and other 14.60%.
The current Libertarian and Green totals are not on the state’s website. The numbers for those two parties are: Libertarian 45,470; Green 13.561.
