On August 30, the New York Court of Appeals, the highest state court in New York, refused to disturb the ruling of the State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, in Lavell v Baker.  That case involved a dispute over whether the Independence Party properly nominated candidates for various local partisan offices in Erie County.

The objectors said the party didn’t follow its own rules, as to whether the state central committee, or the state executive committee, should decide whether to let candidates from other parties run in the Independence Party primary.  The lower court, in a split decision, had ruled in favor of the party, and now that win is secure.  Thanks to Joe Burns for this news.

On August 30, the North Carolina legislature passed HB 927, which has new districts for State House seats.  When the House convenes at 2 p.m. today, it is expected to pass SB 691, the bill for new State Senate districts.

Then the legislature will probably take a recess, and reconvene in October.  According to Representative Bert Jones, SB 656 will be taken up at that time.  That is the bill that greatly improves ballot access.  It has already passed both houses, but the versions in each house differ, so more action is needed.

On August 29, the U.S. Court of Appeals rejected the lawsuit filed by Gary Johnson and Jill Stein against the Commission on Presidential Debates.  Johnson v Commission on Presidential Debates, 16-7107.  The 11-page decision is written by Judge Janice Rogers Brown, who has been hostile to minor parties and independents throughout her whole career, which began on the California Supreme Court and then extended to the U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit.  She wrote that the plaintiffs lack standing

Judge Cornelia Pillard, an Obama appointee, wrote separately to say that the plaintiffs do have standing, but that they still cannot win the case for other procedural reasons.

Judge Brown, while on the California Supreme Court, wrote the 2002 opinion in Edelstein v Nishioka.  It said that nothing in the California Constitution, nor the U.S. Constitution, protects the right of voters to cast a write-in vote.  It reversed a 1986 decision of the California Supreme Court, Canaan v Abdelnour, which had said both constitutions do protect the right of voters to vote for anyone they wish.  In 2012, Brown, while on the D.C. Circuit, upheld the postal regulation that bans petitioning on interior postal sidewalks.

The other debates lawsuit, Level the Playing Field v FEC, is still pending in U.S. District Court, and has a much more sympathetic judge.  Thanks to Rick Hasen for the news.