On October 8, the U.S. Supreme Court heard McCutcheon v Federal Election Commission, a campaign finance case. Here is one article about the hearing. The gist of this article, and a few others, seems to be that the Court is likely to strike down the limit that restricts an individual from donating to more than fifteen congressional candidates, if he or she is giving the maximum $2,600 to each candidate.
UPDATE: here is the transcript of the hearing. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.
On October 7, a U.S. District Court in Hawaii held a trial in Democratic Party of Hawaii v Nago, 1:13cv-301. According to this story, Judge J. Michael Seabright has not decided the case yet, but he did indicate that if he concludes that the Hawaii law imposes a severe burden on the Democratic Party, he will strike it down.
The lawsuit was filed by the party to escape the open primary, and to let the party restrict its primary to party members. Presumably if the party wins the case, the state will begin asking voters to choose a party on voter registration forms. Currently, Hawaii voter registration forms do not ask about party membership. When the Idaho Republican Party won a similar lawsuit, the legislature changed the voter registration forms to include a party membership question.
On October 9, the Tennessee Libertarian Party filed a lawsuit, asking to be placed on the ballot in the December 2013 special legislative election in Memphis. The existing law on how a party gets on the ballot was held unconstitutional earlier this year, and the state is appealing. The new lawsuit is Tomasik v Goins, middle district, 3:13cv-1118.
The Patriot-News of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, has this editorial, cricitizing the Commonwealth Court decision of last week that keeps Nevin Mindlin, independent for Mayor of Harrisburg, off the ballot.
Politico announced a new Virginia gubernatorial poll on October 7. The results: Democrat Terry McAuliffe 44%, Republican Ken Cuccinelli 35%, Libertarian Rob Sarvis 12%, undecided 8%. This poll makes it very likely that the October 24 debate will include all three ballot-listed candidates. Thanks to PoliticalWire for the link.
