On December 15, U.S. District Court Judge James M. Moody sent an e-mail to all attorneys in the case Moore v Martin, e.d., 4:14cv-65, saying that he has determined that the Arkansas March 1 petition deadline (for independent candidates) is unconstitutional. He will write a detailed order soon. He had promised on December 12 that he would quickly announce his opinion, so that the plaintiff can plan ahead for the 2018 election. The plaintiff, Mark Moore, intends to petition as an independent for Lieutenant Governor.

The judge said that his injunction will include setting the deadline at May 1.

This case had been filed in 2014, and initially Judge Moody had upheld the March 1 petition deadline. But then the 8th circuit had said that the deadline is unconstitutional unless the state can prove that it can’t cope with checking petitions without a March 1 deadline. Judge Moody then held a five-hour trial on December 12. At the trial, a state elections employee had testified that if the state had a later deadline, the state could manage to check the petitions.

The Socialist Workers Party is the only party in the United States that publishes a weekly print newspaper. According to this story in the party’s newspaper, The Militant, Florida prison officials have banned nine weekly issues so far this year. The prisons say the stories in the banned issue motivate readers to protest. If the prison officials don’t relent, it seems likely that a lawsuit will be filed.

The Detroit News has this column by Kaitlyn Buss, opinion editor for the Detroit News. She writes that both the Republican Party and the Democratic Party are corrupt. As an example of Democratic Party corruption, she mentions Congressman John Conyers. In 2012 the Detroit News endorsed Gary Johnson for president. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the link.