On February 16, U.S. District Court Judge Orlando Garcia, a Clinton appointee, sanctioned Texas state government for failing to follow court orders to produce certain pieces of evidence. The case is Stringer v Pablos, w.d., SA-16-CA-257. The issue is whether Texas is or is not complying with the federal motor voter law. Plaintiffs say that many individuals register to vote at Department of Motor Vehicle offices, or update their voter registration, and yet those applications don’t get processed.

Plaintiffs asked for certain kinds of evidence from the state, and the state was supposed to produce them by September 24, 2016, but the state got permission to instead submit the documents by January 17. But, that deadline passed without any production of the documents. Here is the order.

Law Professor Rick Hasen writes here at his Election Law Blog that Judge Neil Gorsuch, President Trump’s nominee for U.S. Supreme Court, wrote an opinion in 2012 that suggests he is not favorable to ballot access or to minor parties. The case was Hassan v State of Colorado and Secretary of State Scott Gessler, 12-1190 (September 4, 2012).

Abdul Hassan was born in Guyana, but he wanted to run for President in 2012. He admitted he is not a natural born citizen (he is naturalized) but he filed six federal lawsuits against the federal government or against state election officials, saying the “natural born” clause has been implicitly repealed by new U.S. Constitutional amendments. He said he was seeking the Democratic nomination, but in two states without presidential primaries, Colorado and Iowa, he also sued to be allowed to be an independent candidate.

Judge Gorsuch ruled against him, writing the Constitution permits states to bar candidates from the ballot if it is uncontested that they do not meet the constitutional qualifications for the office. In the same opinion, Gorsuch also ruled that the natural born clause is still a valid part of the Constitution.

Gorsuch’s statement that states are permitted to bar candidates from the ballot if it is clear to everyone that they do not meet the constitutional qualifications is entirely unremarkable. No federal or state court has ever ruled any differently. Although some states have sometimes printed the names of constitutionally ineligible candidates on ballots, no court has ever forced any state to do that.

Abdul Hassan failed to persuade a single judge to rule in his favor. He was in front of six U.S. District Court judges, and these eighteen U.S. Court of Appeals Judges: D.C. Circuit Karen Henderson, Thomas Griffht, Brett Kavanaugh; First Circuit Sandra Lynch, Kermit Lipez, O. Rogeriee Thompson; Second Circuit Jon O. Newman, Joseph McLaughlin, Debra Ann Livingston; Eighth Circuit Diana E. Murphy, Morris S. Arnold, Lavenski Smith; Ninth Circuit Edward Leavy, Sidney Thomas, Mary H. Murguia; and Tenth Circuit Gorsuch, Wade Brorby, and Jerome Holmes. Some of those judges didn’t even think Hassan had standing.

Hassan appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court also, but that court refused to hear his appeal. Hassan v Colorado, 12-1187.

On February 15, the Colorado Senate State, Veterans & Military Affairs Committee tabled SB 17-99 by a vote of 3-2. This is the national popular vote plan bill. The vote was party-line: all three Republican voted against the bill, and both Democrats voted for it.