Chris Kavanaugh has this op-ed in the Berkeley Daily Planet, commenting on the recent gains for Instant Runoff Voting in California’s Alameda County. Within the last few days, Oakland, Berkeley, and San Leandro have decided to use IRV for the first time, for their 2010 city elections.
On January 21, he U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday struck down federal laws that make it illegal for corporations and unions to spend money, commenting on candidates for federal office. The vote was 5-4.
Read the decision here. Here is an article by Lyle Denniston on scotusblog that is clear, neutral and useful, about what comes next in campaign finance jurisprudence.
On January 19, an Arizona Superior Court heard arguments in City of Tucson v State of Arizona, c2009-7207. The issue is whether the 2009 session of the legislature violated the state constitution when it passed a law saying all cities must use non-partisan elections.
Tucson sued to overturn that law. Here is an article describing how the oral argument went.
The U.S. Supreme Court did not release its decision in Citizens United v Federal Election Commission on January 20, but it seems likely it will do so on January 21. See this SCOTUS blog post. Thanks to Rick Hasen for this news.
The 6th circuit will hear Kurita v The State Primary Board of the Tennessee Democratic Party on March 24, 2010. This is the fascinating case on whether a political party that chooses its nominees by primary is free to set aside the results and declare the person who lost the primary to be the party’s true nominee. The lower court had ruled that the Democratic Party can do that, if it wishes.
The primary was in 2008, and involved a race for State Senate. Rosalind Kurita, the incumbent, was running for re-election, and she won her primary. But the party certified her opponent, even though he had fewer votes. The party said that Kurita only won because some Republicans voted in the party’s open primary. Tennessee does not have registration by party.
