Even though today is Sunday (October 12), briefs were filed today by voting rights groups and by the U.S. Justice Department in the Texas government-photo ID case pending in the Fifth Circuit. Scotusblog has the details. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the link.
On October 11, the Bradenton Times endorsed Bill Wohlsifer, the Libertarian nominee for Florida Attorney General. See the editorial here. The Bradenton Times was founded in 2008 and is an on-line news source.
Wohlsifer is the first candidate on the Florida ballot for Attorney General, who is not the Republican or Democratic nominee, since 1916.
On October 10, the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled 6-1 that stand-alone stores open to the public must permit petitioning outside the store, even if the place where petitioning is being carried out is private property. Glovsky v Roche Brothers Supermarkets, SJC-11434. The decision isn’t posted yet on the Court’s web page, but when it is, a link will be inserted here.
The plaintiff had been petitioning for himself in 2012 in front of a grocery store. He lost in the trial court but now the Supreme Court has reversed the lower court. Back in 1983, the Massachusetts Supreme Court had ruled that shopping centers must permit petitioning, and that opinion, Batchelder v Allied Stores, has now been expanded. See this story.
The Bee newspaper chain in California has this story on how voters are responding to being faced with one-party races for Congress and state legislature this year.
On October 10, U.S. District Court Judge John Kane, a Carter appointee, ruled that the Coalition for Secular Government need not register itself with Colorado campaign finance officials and need not report all its expenditures. The entire annual budget for the group is $3,500, but Colorado had said it must register with the state and disclose its expenditures because it published a pamphlet, arguing for a “no” vote on a statewide initiative defining “personhood”.
Here is commentary about the decision. The case had been pending since 2012, and is 12-cv-1708. Thanks to Justin Levitt for the link.
