Iowa Representative Derek Wulf (R-Hudson) has introduced HF 353. It bars candidates from primaries if they have been members of another party during the preceding year. Here is the text. It also bars voters from voting in primaries if they have been members of another party during the preceding thirty days, and it attempts to extend this rule to party caucuses.

In 1986 the U.S. Supreme Court decision Tashjian v Republican Party of Connecticut said that if parties wish to nominate a non-member, the First Amendment freedom of association clause protects their ability to do that. Courts in Colorado and New Mexico have struck down duration of party membership laws, in situations in which the party didn’t want the restriction.

On February 19, the Ninth Circuit refused to stay the order of the U.S. District Court of Washington state, in State of Washington v Donald Trump, 25-807. This is the case in which President Trump’s executive order on citizenship had been enjoined. The three judges who handled the matter in the Ninth Circuit are William Canby, a Carter appointee; Milan D. Smith, a Bush Jr. appointee; and Danielle J. Forrest, a Trump appointee.

The order is very brief, and says that Trump has not shown there is an emergency. Judge Forrest wrote separately to expand on that point.

It is somewhat likely that Trump will now ask the U.S. Supreme Court to issue a stay.

On February 17, Jim Walden filed this brief in Walden v Kosinski, e.d., 1:25cv-72. This is the lawsuit filed by an independent candidate for Mayor of New York City. He wants his ballot label to be “Independence”. New York in general permits independent candidates to choose a partisan label for the ballot. But a new law forbids any qualified party from having the word “Independence” in its name. Walden challenges that law on First Amendment grounds.

The New York City Board of Elections has notified the court that it takes no position, so it will be up to the New York State Board to defend the law.