The U.S. Supreme Court will consider whether to hear Free Speech v Federal Election Commission, 13-772, on May 15. This Wyoming case was filed by three individuals who wanted to pool their money to run some ads commenting on various candidates and issues, but who do not want to form a PAC, because the paperwork requirements are so daunting. The individuals are willing to make full disclosure of their spending.

Free Speech filed its cert petition on December 30, 2013. The case has taken longer than usual to get a conference date because the FEC twice asked for an extension of time in which to file its response.

On April 24, the chair of the South Carolina Republican Party held a news conference to say that the party has demanded that independent gubernatorial candidate Tom Ervin stop referring to himself as an “independent Republican” in his campaign ads. See this story.

South Carolina does not have registration by party, so whether or not any individual is a party member depends entirely on how that individual defines himself or herself. Ervin has already responded to the threat by saying he will not comply with the party’s demand.

There were many independent candidates on the November 2012 ballot who referred to themselves as Republicans or Democrats. That was because, due to a confusing campaign finance law, many legislative candidates from the two major parties were removed from the primary ballots of their own parties and had to run as independent candidates.

On April 23, the Democratic Governors Association filed a federal lawsuit against certain Connnecticut campaign finance laws. The Association wants to make independent expenditures this year in support of Connecticut Governor Dan Malloy, a Democrat who is running for re-election. The lawsuit says that Connecticut laws on independent expenditures provide that spending isn’t “independent” if the group and the candidate have had close contact in the recent past. The Democratic Governors Association says that it understands that its decisions about spending in the Connecticut race itself must be completely uncoordinated with Governor Malloy. But it says that the state, unless restrained by a court, will simply presume that the expenditures aren’t independent, just because Malloy has been active in the organization.

The case is Democratic Governors Association v Brandi, 3:14cv-544. It was assigned to U.S. District Court judge Janet C. Hall, a Clinton appointee. See this story for more details.