On March 13, attorneys for the Tennessee Secretary of State asked the U.S. District Court to stay parts of its February 3, 2012 order in Green Party of Tennessee v Hargett. Specifically, the Secretary of State wants the court to stay the parts of the decision that put the Green Party and the Constitution Party on the 2012 ballot. Also, the Secretary of State wants to stay the part of the U.S. District Court order that says Tennessee must use a random method to determine the order of parties on the ballot. Here is the state’s brief.

The state argues that the Constitution Party and the Green Party have not shown a modicum of voter support.

Alabama elects its state judges in partisan elections. This year, five seats on the Alabama Supreme Court are open. Only one Democrat is running for any of the five numbered seats. Because ballot access is so difficult, no minor parties are on the ballot, and the petition deadline for new parties was March 13. Unless the pending ballot access lawsuit filed by the Constitution, Green and Libertarian Parties wins, Alabama voters will have only one candidate on the November ballot for four of the statewide partisan judicial races.

Roy Moore appears to have won the Republican primary for Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, with no need for a runoff primary. This was a surprise, because he had been outspent by his two Republican opponents. He had been Chief Justice previously, but had been impeached in 2003 because he refused to obey a federal court order to remove a massive monument to the Ten Commandments. He had then flirted with the idea of seeking the Constitution Party’s presidential nomination, but never did so. See this story about Moore. It was written before the primary. Moore has promised in this campaign that he will not seek to restore the Ten Commandments monument in the State Supreme Court building. See this story about Moore’s victory in the primary.

Utah state elections officials say the Green Party petition has enough valid signatures. Utah now has seven qualified parties: Democratic, Republican, Americans Elect, Constitution, Green, Justice, and Libertarian.