Current Colorado law lets individuals contribute only half as much money to an independent candidate as to a Democrat or a Republican. In 2010 a supporter of an independent candidate for the legislature filed a lawsuit against this discriminatory policy. The U.S. District Court referred the question to the Colorado Supreme Court, and asked the Colorado Supreme Court to determine if the state law violates the Colorado constitution. The State Supreme Court will hear that question on either September 27, 28 or 29. The Colorado Supreme Court, like most state supreme courts, doesn’t sit during the summer. The case is Riddle v Ritter.

Shortly, the University of South Carolina will publish “Challengers to Duopoly: Why Third Parties Matter in American Two-Party Politics”, by Political Science and History Professor J. David Gillespie. The book has already received attention from political scientists. The American Political Science Association’s “Political Organizations and Parties” section has its own quarterly newsletter, “Vox Pop.” The latest issue of “Vox Pop” (the spring 2011 issue) devotes its first two pages to a description of the book.

The July 3 Arizona Republic has this story about the fate of public funding in Arizona, after part of the program was declared unconstitutional last week.