On May 19, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Lindsey v Whitmer, 24-1017. Eleven Republican state legislators in Michigan had brought the lawsuit, alleging that it violates the U.S. Constitution when voters use the initiative process to alter election laws that affect federal elections.

The theory that only state legislatures and Congress can change election laws that affect federal elections now seems virtually dead. The initiative process has been used in Massachusetts and Florida to improve ballot access laws, and it will probably be used in the future for that same purpose.

On May 20, the U.S. Supreme Court gave injunctive relief to Laurel D. Libby, the Maine legislator who has not been allowed to cast votes on the floor of the Maine House for several months because she won’t apologize for a social media post that pictured and named a particular high school transgender student. The vote is 7-2. The majority did not issue any opinion. Justices Sotomayor and Jackson dissent.

The case is Libby v Fecteau, 24A1051. Now it goes back to the First Circuit. Jackson dissented on the grounds that the Maine legislature is about to adjourn for the year so there is no time emergency.

Georgia is holding two statewide partisan elections in November 2025 for Public Service Commission. Normally Georgia never holds partisan statewide elections in odd years. But the elections for that office were not held in 2022 nor 2024, due to litigation over whether they should be statewide or by district. The courts ruled in favor of statewide elections.

This will be the first statewide partisan election in Georgia since 1986 in which only the Democratic and Republican Parties are on the ballot. For all elections 1988 through 2024, the Libertarian Party was also on the ballot for statewide office (but not district office). The Libertarian Party went off the statewide ballot in November 2024, although it surely would have stayed on if only the Public Service Commission seats had been up. The party always got enough votes to remain on for that office. But nothing was on the statewide ballot in 2024 except president.