It has been over two years since the South Carolina Republican Party filed a federal lawsuit over whether the party can limit its primary to voters who identify with the party. The case is Greenville County Republican Party v State of South Carolina, 6:10-cv-1407. The case is far from being decided.

Back on August 2, 2011, a scheduling order provided that all briefs and discovery ought to be finished by June 15, 2012. But since then, the scheduling order has been revised several times. Currently, briefs and discovery are due by December 2012 and a trial is expected in January 2013.

Current law provides for an open primary for all parties that hold primaries. The Republican Party wants to exclude voters who are not sympathetic to the Republican Party.

The Egyptian presidential run-off was held June 16-17, but the results still aren’t out, and they won’t be for several days. See this news story.

This contrasts with the vote tallies in the May initial presidential election, when the results were released quite soon after the polls closed.

As noted earlier, on May 17, the Constitution Party, the Green Party, and the Libertarian Party had filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia against the unique Pennsylvania system that requires petitioning candidates and groups to be subject to as much as $100,000 in court costs, if their petitions are held to lack enough valid signatures. That case is Constitution Party of Pennsylvania v Aichele, 5:12-cv-2726.

The state has just asked for, and obtained, a 30-day extension to answer the complaint. The state’s answer is now due July 25.