Florida proponents of a top-two system have filed a proposed initiative constitutional amendment with the Secretary of State. This link contains the form of the petition and the wording of the proposal. The proponents include attorney Glenn Burhans, Jr., of Tallahassee, and Andrew Jones. Thanks to Richard Moroney for the link.
On March 24, the Idaho House State Affairs Committee passed SB 1066. The bill has already passed the State Senate. It creates a March presidential primary. Idaho’s past presidential primaries have always been in late May.
It is beginning to look as though the majority of all state presidential primaries in 2016 will be held in March. Thanks to Josh Putnam for the news.
On Monday, March 23, U.S. District Court Judge Elizabeth Dillon heard oral argument in Adams v Alcorn, w.d., 5:15cv-12. The lawsuit had been filed on February 25, 21015, by the Republican Party Committee for the 24th State Senate district. The Committee hopes to invalidate the Virginia law that lets incumbents who are running for re-election decide whether the party nominates by primary or convention in that incumbent’s race.
Here is a newspaper story describing the hearing. Apparently four attorneys, each representing distinct interests, argued. The Republican Party has an attorney who argued; the state has an attorney who argued in defense of the state law; the incumbent State Senator had an attorney representing his interests; and a Republican candidate who wants to run against the incumbent had his attorney.
The newspaper story does not say anything about how Judge Elizabeth Dillon reacted to the arguments.
Professor Charles Whelan has this op-ed in U.S. News & World Report, attacking both major parties and implying a major new party of the center is needed.
On March 23, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in Walker v Texas Division of Sons of Confederate Veterans, 14-144. Texas lets hundreds of organizations, as well as commercial establishments like restaurants, arrange for automobile license plates that carry the emblem or insignia of that organization or business. But Texas won’t let the Sons of Confederate Veterans have its own license plates.
During the oral argument, four times, one justice or another wanted to know if the U.S. Constitution would let Texas issue specialty plates for the Republican Party and yet refuse such plates for the Democratic Party. The attorney for the state of Texas consistently said that would not violate the First Amendment, but that it probably would violate the Due Process Clause or the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Here the transcript. There is a reference to political parties on page 7-9, 24-25, and 56.
