The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments in Susan B. Anthony List v Driehaus, 13-193, on April 22. This is a challenge to Ohio’s law making it illegal for individuals to make false statements about candidates or ballot measures, with the intent to influence the election outcome. According to this story, the Ohio Attorney General filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court acknowledging that the law violates the First Amendment. But, the Ohio Attorney General, Michael DeWine, also filed a brief defending the law.

The brief in defense of the law is filed by DeWine in his capacity as the Ohio legal officer charged with defending state laws. The brief expressing the view that the law violates the First Amendment is filed in DeWine’s capacity as amicus curiae. Here is his amicus curiae brief. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.

On March 3, U.S. District Court Judge Mark E. Fuller ruled that the lawsuit Hall v Bennett is not moot. Hall v Bennett is the case involving special elections in Alabama. The plaintiff, an independent candidate for U.S. House in Alabama’s First District last year, had argued that because the petitioning period for special elections is so much shorter than for regular elections, the state should either reduce the number of signatures below 6,000, or else at least allow more time for petitioning.

Last year the plaintiff, James Hall, did not win injunctive relief, so he was kept off the ballot in the December 2013 special election. But he still hoped to win declaratory relief after the election was over, to help independent and minor party candidates in future special elections in Alabama. The state argued that the case should be dismissed, but the March 3 fourteen-page decision says the case is not moot, and will proceed to a decision on declaratory judgment. The court set a status conference for March 12.

Alabama has lots of special elections for state legislative vacancies, and if Hall wins declaratory relief, that will help candidates in future special legislative elections as well as future U.S. House elections in Alabama.

North Carolina State Board of Elections has released a new voter registration tally. The percentages for each party are: Democratic 42.46%; Republican 30.62%; Libertarian .36%; independent and other 26.56%.

The November 2012 percentages had been: Democratic 43.17%; Republican 30.86%; Libertarian .29%; independent and other 25.67%. Thanks to Ray Ubinger for the new data. The State Board’s new figures are at this link. Scroll down to the “registration statistics” box.