Florida Top-Two Supporters Rewrite Their Initiative and Will Again Begin to Collect Signatures

Posted on by July 21, 2015
2

A Florida group that supports top-two says it has rewritten its proposed initiative, and will start to collect signatures soon. The revised measure holds the actual election for state and county office in August, and only if no one gets 50% will there be a runoff in November. However, because federal law requires states to hold congressional elections in November in all districts, for Congress the measure won’t let anyone be elected in August, and the election between the top-two will be in November even if someone running for Congress does get 50% or more in August. See this story.

The story has some factual errors. It says Washington state started using top-two in 2004, but actually Washington started using it in 2008. The story says Nebraska has a top-two system. Nebraska has never had a top-two system. It has semi-closed primaries for president, congress, state executive office, and partisan county office. For legislature it has non-partisan elections with no party labels on the ballot.

Samoan Plaintiffs ask for Rehearing en banc on Whether Constitution Gives them Automatic Citizenship

Posted on by July 21, 2015
2

The plaintiffs in Tuaua v U.S. have asked the U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. circuit, to rehear their lawsuit. The issue is whether the 14th amendment, which says “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside”, applies to persons born in American Samoa. A three-judge panel had ruled against citizenship. The request for rehearing asks that all judges of the D.C. circuit participate.

That section of the Constitution has always been interpreted to mean that residents of the District of Columbia are U.S. citizens. Congress has by statute made residents of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico citizens, but Congress has never extended citizenship to persons born in American Samoa. See this press release. Thanks to How Appealing for the link.

New York Post Editorializes that Fusion Should be Banned

Posted on by July 21, 2015
12

The July 19 New York Post has this editorial, which argues that the New York legislature should ban fusion, the ability of two or more parties to jointly nominate the same candidate.

In 1912, the New York State Court of Appeals, the highest state court in New York, ruled that the New York Constitution requires that the state permit fusion. However, the State Constitution is significantly different today than it was in 1912.

Harvard Law Record Carries Account of Corruption in Pennsylvania Process that Kept Ralph Nader Off the Ballot and then Punished Him with Costs

Posted on by July 21, 2015
5

The Harvard Law Record has this detailed account of how corrupt officials in Pennsylvania were assisted by the prominent law firm Reed Smith, in the matter of Nader’s ejection from the Pennsylvania ballot in November 2004. Not only was Nader removed from the ballot, his bank account was seized for over $70,000 in court costs. Later evidence came out that the challengers themselves were illegally using state employees on state time, and state computers, but no Pennsylvania court would do anything about it.

Fox News Changes Second-Tier Presidential Forum

Posted on by July 21, 2015
Reply

On July 20, Fox News said it has changed the time for the second-tier Republican presidential candidate forum from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on August 6. The second-tier event is the consolation prize for the candidates who don’t make the top ten and who can’t appear in the 9 p.m. August 6 event.

The change in time for the second-tier event will increase the number of people who watch. See this story. Fox also shrunk the time for the second-tier event from 90 minutes to one hour, because there are only going to be six or seven candidates in the second-tier event.