On May 30, the Florida officials and consultants who had asked the U.S. Supreme Court for a stay in League of Women Voters of Florida v State withdrew their request. The Florida Supreme Court had ruled that internal communications between legislators and consultants should be made available in the state court lawsuit over congressional redistricting. Those legislators and consultants had then asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse that, but now they have given that up. See this story.

The Florida Constitution says the legislature should draw U.S. House districts but must do so in a way that doesn’t advantage or disadvantage any political party. The problem with this provision is that it is very tough to enforce, which is why internal communications are useful in deciding how the process really worked.

On June 2, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear Alabama Legislative Black Caucus v State, 13-895, and its companion case, Alabama Democratic Conference v Alabama, 13-1138. The issue is the 2011 redistricting carried out by the Alabama legislature, for state legislative districts. The lower 3-judge U.S. District Court had upheld the boundaries last year.

The plaintiffs argue that the legislature deliberately packed as many African-American voters into the majority African-American districts, so as to limit the number of districts in which such voters have power and influence. Here are the “questions presented” for each of the two cases. The U.S. Supreme Court wants to hear arguments on issue #2 from 13-895, and issue #1 from 13-1138.

If the state loses this lawsuit, there will probably be special legislative elections in 2015 or 2016. Normally Alabama only elects state legislators in midterm years, and none in presidential years. Thanks to Rick Hasen for this news and to Scotusblog for the links.

On Sunday, June 1, the second-to-last day of the Louisiana legislative session, the House passed the Senate version of HB 431, so the bill moving the presidential primary from mid-March to early-March has passed and been sent to the Governor. Assuming it is passed into law, it will not be the earliest presidential primary in Louisiana history. In 2008 the state voted on February 9. Thanks to FrontloadingHQ for this news.