The U.S. Supreme Court will hear Christian Legal Society v Martinez, 08-1371, on April 19, 2010. Although this case is not an election law case, it is a freedom of association case, and those cases always impact on the law relating to political parties.

Here is the 81-page brief of the Hastings Law School. It argues that it need not provide the Christian Legal Society with recognition as a student group because the Society is perfectly free to thrive as a voluntary organization without school recognition. Recognition includes some funding for the group.

Hastings won’t recognize the Christian Legal Society because the Society refuses to follow a school rule, that recognized student groups must be open to any student who wishes to become a member.

The Constitution Party is currently petitioning to qualify the party for the ballot in the First Congressional District of Alabama. The party needs approximately 5,500 valid signatures, by June 1. If the petition succeeds, it will be the first time the Constitution Party has ever appeared on the ballot in Alabama in any district bigger than a state legislative district. The candidate is David Walter. Here is his web page.

No minor party has appeared on the Alabama ballot for U.S. House since 2002. Alabama lets parties that are not qualified statewide, qualify within various subdivisions of the state.

The Mississippi Secretary of State says a statewide initiative has qualified for the November 2011 ballot. It would require voters at the polls to show government photo-ID in order to vote. This is only the third initiative that will have ever appeared on the ballot in Mississippi. The state has had the initiative since 1992. The first two initiatives were for various kinds of term limits, and they were defeated at the polls. See this story.