According to an article in the June 5 New York Times, there are likely to be fifteen candidates for the Republican presidential nomination who have the requisite qualifications to be acknowledged by the media and by the Republican National Committee to be bona fide candidates. They are:

1. Jeb Bush
2. Ben Carson
3. Chris Christie
4. Ted Cruz
5. Carly Fiorina
6. Lindsay Graham
7. Mike Huckabee
8. Bobby Jindal
9. John Kasich
10. George Pataki
11. Rand Paul
12. Rick Perry
13. Marco Rubio
14. Rick Santorum
15. Scott Walker

Approximately half of the 2016 presidential primaries will be in March. States with March presidential primaries will print their ballots before any caucuses or primaries have taken place. So even though it is likely that some candidates will drop out after the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire and South Carolina presidential primaries, the states with March presidential primaries will have printed their ballots before such withdrawals.

These ten states with March presidential primaries put all candidates on the ballot who are discussed in the major news media, or else they include all candidates recognized by state party leaders: Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas. It seems probable that those states will have approximately 15 candidates on their Republican presidential primary ballots. Yet no state legislator in any state this year has introduced any bill to make presidential primary ballot access more difficult. It seems that state officials do not really believe that as many as 15 candidates on a ballot for one office really “confuses” voters.

On June 5, Michigan Goernor Rick Snyder signed SB 329, which puts the candidates for Flint city office this year back on the ballot, even though they were late with their petitions due to relying on inaccurate information from the Flint city clerk.

On June 5, the U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. circuit, issued an opinion in Tuala v U.S.A., 13-5272. The decision agrees with the U.S. District Court decision in this case, and concludes that the Fourteenth Amendment does not mean that persons born in American Samoa are citizens. American Samoa has been a U.S. possession since 1900.

The 14th amendment says, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.” The plaintiffs, who were born in American Samoa but mostly now live in one of the fifty states, argue that they should be recognized as citizens without having to go through naturalization. The decision rules against them, partly on the basis that the territorial government of American Samoa opposes the lawsuit. The decision says that residents of American Samoa might have good reasons to not want to be considered part of the United States. Also it points out that while the Philippines were ruled by the United States 1898-1946, most of their residents weren’t citizens either. And it mentions that Native Americans were not generally recognized as citizens of the United States, before 1924 when Congress passed a law saying they are citizens. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.