The February 12 Wall Street Journal has this interesting op-ed on why lawsuits filed, alleging that the Constitution is being ignored, so seldom win. The problem is that courts often rule that the plaintiffs lack standing, because they haven’t been particularly injured. The focus of the article is the current lawsuit alleging that Hillary Clinton is not eligible to be Secretary of State, but the article also focuses on lawsuits concerning the eligibility of Barack Obama and John McCain to be president. Thanks to Bill Van Allen for the link.

California holds a special election for the vacant 51st district State Senate in Los Angeles County on March 24. Six Democrats, one Peace & Freedom Party member, and one Republican are running. Since two of the Democrats are incumbent Assemblymembers, it is extremely likely that no one will get 50% of the vote. In that case, there will be a run-off on May 19 between the Peace and Freedom nominee, Cindy Henderson, and the Democrat who gets the most votes in March, and the lone Republican. The district is overwhelmingly Democratic. The seat is vacant because Senator Mark Ridley-Thomas resigned to become a Los Angeles County Supervisor.

On February 10, the Montana Senate voted on the proposal to amend the State Constitution and require a majority vote before anyone can be elected. The result was a 25-25 tie. Since the bill is a proposed Constitutional amendment, under Montana legislative rules, it now goes to the House even though it didn’t pass the Senate. However, it must pass in the House with a two-thirds vote, so its chances are dim. See this news story, which quotes former Secretary of State Mike Cooney, who is now a State Senator, criticizing both ordinary run-offs and Instant Runoff Voting.

Although the news story says the bill applies to state and local office, it actually also applies to federal office.