On June 25, the U.S. Supreme Court summarily affirmed the decision of a 3-judge panel in Maryland, in Fletcher v Lamone, 11-1178. Maryland and a handful of other states now draw congressional and legislative districts under the assumption that prisoners should be tallied (for redistricting purposes) in the community in which they lived before they were imprisoned, instead of in the town where the prison is located.

The 3-judge court had upheld Maryland’s system. Today’s summary affirmance means that other states are now free to follow the same policy, without fear that that method of counting prisoners is unconstitutional.

The effect of Maryland’s system is to give less representation in the U.S. House, and in the state legislature, to communities in which prisons are located. Generally, prisons are in smaller towns, and generally prisoners come from large urban areas, so the Maryland system usually means increased representation for urban areas.

The presidential primary season comes to a close on Tuesday, June 26, when Utah holds its presidential primary and its primary for all other office. Utah doesn’t print up primary ballots unless there is a contest, so the only party with a presidential primary is the Republican Party. The five candidates in that primary are: Newt Gingrich, Fred Karger, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, and Rick Santorum.

The Constitution Party has a contested gubernatorial primary, and is the only party in Utah to have a gubernatorial primary. See this story. Any registered voter is free to vote in the Constitution Party’s primary.

The Peace & Freedom Party will choose its presidential nominee on the weekend of August 4-5. The location will be near the Los Angeles International Airport. The decision will be made by members of the State Central Committee, who are collectively all the members of all the county central committees. Although the election of members of the county central committee was carried out on June 5 at the party’s primary, it is still difficult to predict which presidential candidate will win the nomination. Many committee members appear undecided.

Candidates seeking the nomination are Stewart Alexander, Rocky Anderson, Stephen Durham, and Peta Lindsay.

The party’s lawsuit over whether Lindsay should have been on the party’s presidential primary ballot has a hearing in federal court in Sacramento on August 27. The issue is whether someone who does not meet the constitutional qualifications to be President should have been allowed on the party’s presidential primary ballot. Although the judge denied injunctive relief on April 26, the constitutional issues remain to be resolved.