By an odd coincidence, two court hearings involving the Constitution Party will be held at exactly the same hour on the same day this week, one in Nevada and one in California.

The Nevada case is Fasano v Ashjian, in Nevada state district court in Carson City, 10-oc-00118. The hearing is at 9 a.m. on Friday, March 26. The Independent American Party (Nevada state affiliate of the Constitution Party) filed this lawsuit to force the Secretary of State to remove the Tea Party’s candidate for U.S. Senate. The case alleges that the Tea Party candidate should have changed his registration from “Republican” to “Tea Party” no later than March 1, but that he didn’t change until March 2.

The California case is King v Robinson, in California Superior Court, Solano County, FCS034452. The hearing is also at 9 a.m. on Friday, March 26. This case was filed March 16, 2009, to obtain a decision as to the identity of the legal officers of the American Independent Party of California. The case has been delayed because the defendant has evaded being served. Plaintiffs will argue that defendants have been served, and also that defendants improperly failed to appear at a recent deposition. The plaintiffs are associated with the Constitution Party nationally. The defendants are associated with the people who supported Alan Keyes for President in 2008.

Last year, a lawsuit was filed arguing that the disparity in U.S. House districts violates the 14th amendment. Montana has one U.S. House seat and contains approximately 900,000 residents. Wyoming has one U.S. House seat and contains approximately 500,000 residents. Plaintiffs argue that “one person, one vote” principles must apply to U.S. House districts, and that Congress is constitutionally required to create greater equality in the population of U.S. House districts.

Congress could create greater equality of population either by providing that U.S. House districts need not necessarily align with state boundaries, or it could increase the number of members of the U.S. House. Plaintiffs argue that one or the other of these solutions is required. The case is Clemons v U.S. Department of Commerce, 3:09-cv-104, filed in the Northern District of Mississippi. The briefs in this interesting case are posted at www.apportionment.us. See here. The latest brief was filed in February.

The web page also includes articles about the case. The case was filed in Mississippi because Mississippi is home to some of the plaintiffs, and because Mississippi U.S. House districts are substantially more populous than the average U.S. House district. Other states that are injured include Delaware and South Dakota. Utah is also currently injured but Utah’s injury is almost certainly going to be alleviated after the 2010 census and the 2011 reapportionment.

The Coalition for Free and Open Elections has posted the minutes of its annual meeting at www.cofoe.org. That annual meeting was on February 28, 2010, in New York city.

The Coalition for Free and Open Elections has existed since 1985. It is a loose coalition of most of the nation’s nationally-organized minor parties, as well as some other organizations which support the organization’s goal of a better legal environment for minor parties and independent candidates. Thanks to COFOE webmaster Kevin Murphy for this news.