On February 12, sponsors of an initiative to impose maximum age limits on congressional candidates submitted their petition to the North Dakota Secretary of State. It needs 31,164 signatures and almost 42,000 signatures were submitted, so it is very likely to qualify for the ballot.

The initiative would not allow anyone to run for Congress if he or she were to attain the age of 81 during the term of office. If the voters pass it, it would probably be held invalid under the 1995 Supreme Court decision that says that neither states nor Congress can add to the constitutional qualifications for Congress that are contained in Article One.

The initiative sponsors understand that, but hope that a new court case could persuade the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse its 1995 decision. The decision had been 5-4 and the Court membership has changed since 1995.

On February 7, the Minnesota Supreme Court issued an opinion in Growe v Simon, A23-1354, explaining why it allowed Donald Trump on the Minnesota Republican presidential primary ballot. The order to allow him on the ballot had been issued in November last year, but only now has the Court explained its reasoning.

The opinion says that the choice of which presidential candidates appear on a primary ballot is for the party to decide. As to the general election, the court said it would not rule on that because it is too early, and it is not certain that Trump will be the Republican nominee.

On February 15, the Federal Election Commission informed the U.S. Supreme Court that the FEC doesn’t intend to respond to Jill Stein’s cert petition. Stein v FEC, 23-771. The issue is how to calculate primary season matching funds. The FEC believes that Stein was overpaid in 2016 and wants some of its money back. The FEC had changed the rules on the matching period, to the detriment of Stein. It said that contributions she received after she won the Green Party nomination, but before she lost the Peace & Freedom nomination, can’t be matched.