On October 11, the Los Angeles County Libertarian Party filed this rebuttal brief in the 9th circuit in Libertarian Party of Los Angeles County v Bowen, 11-55316. The issue is the California law that does not permit anyone to circulate a candidate petition, if the circulator lives outside of the district. All three briefs have now been filed.
A bill, SB 1282, is pending in the Pennsylvania legislature to provide that each U.S. House district should choose its own presidential elector. According to the web page Keepparelevant.com, it appears that the bill is shy of one vote to pass the House. The web page is opposed to the idea. It assumes, logically, that all Democrats in the legislature will oppose the bill. The web page believes that eleven House Republicans won’t vote for the bill either, which would mean it would lack one vote of a majority. See here.
The U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. circuit, will hear Shelby County, Alabama v Holder, on January 19, 2012. This is one of the three cases in which various governments or private citizens argue that the pre-clearance parts of the Voting Rights Act are unconstitutional. The other two cases were filed by the state of Arizona, and private individuals in North Carolina. Thanks to Rick Hasen for this news.
On October 11, an Indiana State Court of Appeals ruled that the Democratic primary for city council in Muncie on May 3, 2011, should not be held all over again. A lower state court had found that one of the candidates had illegally campaigned at the polls, wearing a campaign shirt. But the State Court of Appeals said that the candidate’s conduct, while “reprehensible”, does not mean that the election results should be set aside and the election run all over again. The appeals court said there is no evidence that the candidate’s campaigning at the polls changed any votes. Here is the decision. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.
On October 7, the New Mexico Republican Party filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court against New Mexico laws, passed in 2009, that severely limit contributions to political parties. Here is the complaint. The case is Republican Party of New Mexico v King, 11-cv-900. The case was assigned to Judge William P. Johnson, a Bush Jr. appointee.
The suit attacks the law that prohibits any individual from giving more than $5,000 to a New Mexico political party. Although the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld limits on how much an individual may donate to a political party, the law upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, a federal law, has much higher donation limits, which rise with inflation and which are now approximately $30,000 per year.
The lawsuit also attacks the New Mexico law because it has been interpreted to ban the national Republican Party from giving more than $5,000 to the New Mexico Republican Party. The lawsuit says federal law preempts such a limit, and permits a national party to give as much money as it wishes to a state party. And, the lawsuit attacks the law that says the Republican Party state party can’t give more than $5,000 to any county Republican Party. Thanks to Joe Trotter for the link.
Although there are many campaign finance lawsuits pending, there are few such cases involving limits on donations to political parties. The only other one now pending, as far as is known, is the Libertarian Party lawsuit that challenges the federal law on limits to political parties when the giver is deceased.
