On February 6, U.S. District Court John Coughenoour, a Reagan appointee, enjoined President Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship. State of Washington v Trump, w.d., 2:25cv-127. Here is the decision. There is an extensive discussion of the meaning of “subject to the jurisdiction of”, starting on page six.
On Thursday, February 6, the Montana House passed HB 207 on second reading. This is the bill that originally increased the number of signatures for independent legislative candidates from 5% of the winner’s vote in the last election, to 10%. The vote was almost perfectly party-line, with Republicans voting for it and Democrats voting against. However, one Democrat, Scott Rosenzweig, also voted for it. UPDATE: the bill was amended so that it no longer raises the number of signatures. Instead it bars “sore loser” write-in candidates and makes the deadline for filing as a declared write-in somewhat earlier.
On February 3, U.S. District Court Judge J. Nicholas Banjan sent Cornel West’s Pennsylvania ballot access lawsuit to mediation. West v Pennsylvania Department of State, w.d., 2:24cv-1349. The issue is Pennsylvania’s policy of requiring each candidate for presidential elector to file his or her own notarized declaration of candidacy. By contrast, the Democratic and Republican candidates for presidential elector need not file anything; instead their parties simply provide a list to the state elections office.
Because Pennsylvania also now requires petitioning groups to file a full slate of electors, paperwork concerning presidential electors kept not only West off the ballot, but the presidential nominees of the Constitution Party and the Party for Socialism and Liberation off the ballot, last year.
The judge says he consulted with both sides before sending the case to arbitration. It seems plausible that the state doesn’t really care that much about its policy on presidential electors, and is prepared to interpret its law in the future to not require the notarized declarations for petitioning candidates for presidential elector. Here is the court order.
New York U.S. House member Elise Stefanik, a Republican, is about to resign, and some Democrats in the legislature have been talking about passing a bill to change the schedule for filling vacancies. The proposal would leave the seat empty for a longer time. But the proposed bill has not yet been introduced. According to this story, the idea is getting severe criticism.
The U.S. Supreme Court will consider whether to hear Upstate Jobs Party v Kosinski, 24-503, at its February 21 conference. This is the case challenging the New York campaign finance law, that says individuals can give more campaign donations to the nominee of a qualified party than to an independent candidate or the nominee of an unqualified party.
If the Court takes this case, it will be the first time it has accepted a cert petition filed solely by a minor party or an independent candidate since 1991, with the exception of a 1997 case in which a Georgia Libertarian Party nominee challenged the Georgia law that required candidates for state and local office to take a drug test. Chandler v Miller. That really wasn’t an election law case; it was chacterized as a Fourth Amendment case. The Fourth Amendment bars unreasonable searches.
