The U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. circuit, will hear Tuaua v USA, 13-5272, on February 9, 2015. This is the case over whether persons born in American Samoa are constitutionally entitled to be U.S. citizens, without having to go through the naturalization process. Some of the plaintiffs now live in one of the fifty states, but they are not permitted to vote if they haven’t gone through naturalization. Over the years, Congress by statute has authorized citizenship for the residents of other U.S. overseas possessions, but has never taken that step for American Samoa.

Eni Faleomavaega, the Delegate to the U.S. House from American Samoa when this case was filed, had intervened in the lawsuit in support of the status quo. However, he was defeated for re-election on November 4, 2014. Here is an article about his election defeat. The new Delegate is Aumua Radewagen.

On November 4, 2014, the voters of Shannon County, South Dakota, voted on whether to change the name of the county. The measure passed, 2,196 to 531. The new name of the county will be Oglala Lakota County.

The Salt Lake City Tribune appears to be the first daily newspaper to announce that Gary Johnson and Jill Stein will be suing the Commission on Presidential Debates. The lawsuit will be filed in January 2015. The Salt Lake City Tribune’s interest in the lawsuit is greater than it would normally be, because former Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson will be one of the attorneys for the plaintiffs. The article says another attorney on the case is Bruce Fein, who worked for President Ronald Reagan in the past. See the story here.