Earlier this year South Dakota changed the petition deadline for a newly-qualifying party to submit a petition of 2.5% of the last gubernatorial vote for party status. The old deadline was March 29. The new deadline is March 1. On June 15, the Libertarian Party and the Constitution Party filed a lawsuit against that deadline, Libertarian Party of South Dakota v Krebs, 4:15-cv-4111.

South Dakota is in the Eighth Circuit. In 1977 the Eighth Circuit said in MacBride v Exon, 558 F 2d 443, “It is completely unreasonable and unrealistic for a state to provide by statute that a person cannot get his name on the state’s presidential ballot as a third party candidate unless that party has qualified as a party in advance of primary elections.” Currently, South Dakota is the only state in which it is impossible for a new party to appear on the November ballot with a presidential candidate and the party label, unless that party participates in a primary. The South Dakota primary is in early June. MacBride v Exon was a Nebraska case, and the Nebraska primary was (and still is) in May.

UPDATE: here is a news story about the lawsuit.

The Daily Oklahoman, largest newspaper in Oklahoma, here reports that the Libertarian Party and the Green Party will attempt to get on the 2016 ballot. The Green Party has never been on the ballot in Oklahoma, and the Libertarian Party hasn’t been on since 2000.

On June 15, the U.S. Supreme Court released three opinions, but did not release any opinions relating to election law or the First Amendment. The only two remaining days for U.S. Supreme Court decisions for this term are June 22 and June 29. UPDATE: there will also probably be decisions on Thursday, June 18. Thanks to Thomas Jones for that update.