Wired has this story about Righthaven, the company that contracted with various newspapers to seek out blogs that re-print newspaper stories in full, and then sue those blogs. For example, Righthaven sued Independent Political Report, and IPR had to pay several thousand dollars so that Righthaven would drop the lawsuit.

As the Wired story explains, one blogger fought back in federal court, and won a ruling that it had not violated copyright, and won $34,000 in attorneys fees against Righthaven. Thanks to How Appealing for the link.

Pennsylvania Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R-Chester) is about to introduce a bill that would provide that each U.S. House district choose its own presidential elector. If this plan had been in effect in 2008, Republicans would have won ten electoral votes from Pennsylvania.

Senator Pileggi is seeking co-sponsors for his proposed bill. He won’t actually introduce the bill until that process is finished. He has been Senate Majority leader since 2006. Republicans hold both houses of the state legislature and the Governorship. The Governor has already indicated he would sign it, if it passes.

The wording of the proposed bill may or may not force candidates for presidential elector to live in the district they seek to represent. If the bill does have a residency requirement, that will make it more difficult for petitioning parties to get on the ballot. They will need to expend time before petitioning to find a resident in each district. Pennsylvania petitions for presidential candidates must include the names of the candidates for presidential elector.

Two pending Libertarian Party election law cases, one in California and one in Massachusetts, are proceeding slowly because attorneys for the state have asked for extensions of time to file responses.

In California, the Libertarian Party is challenging a state law that does not permit candidate petition circulators to work if they don’t live in the district. The case is in the 9th circuit. The state’s brief had been due on September 7, but the state requested an extension until September 22. The case is Libertarian Party of Los Angeles County v Bowen, 11-55316.

In Massachusetts, the Libertarian Party is challenging the state’s refusal to let the party use a stand-in presidential candidate. The state’s response had been due September 12, but the state has received an extension until October 17. The case is Libertarian Association of Massachusetts v Galvin, sj2011-0348.