All year, a case has been pending in the U.S. Supreme Court on the federal law that limits how much political parties may spend on the campaigns of their own nominees, assuming the party and the nominee coordinate with each other. The case is National Republican Senatorial Committee v FEC, 24-3051.

The FEC still hasn’t filed a brief in defense of the law. The FEC response deadline has been postponed four times. It was due January 6, then February 6, then March 10, then April 9, and is now due May 9.

On March 18, Common Cause dismissed its very old lawsuit against the North Carolina law that prevents an independent voter from ever serving on a county election board, or on the state election board. Common Cause v Moore, m.d., 1:22cv-611. It had been filed in 2022. A precedessor lawsuit on the same subject had been filed in 2018. No decision was ever reached in either case.

This is somewhat old news, but was not previously reported. On March 14, 2024, the Fifth Circuit voted 10-5 not to rehear Republican National Committee v Wetzel, 24-60395. The original panel had voted that Mississippi was breaking federal law when it allowed mailed ballots to be counted even though they had not been received in the elections office by election day. The original panel said the 19th century federal law that tells the states they must hold congressional elections on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November means that all ballots must be received by election day.Here is the order denying rehearing. The Fifth Circuit decision is at odds with virtually every other lawsuit on this subject.

It is extremely likely that case will be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.