On February 19, U.S. District Court Judge James Brady will hold a hearing in Libertarian Party v Dardenne, the Louisiana ballot access case. Last year, Judge Brady had granted an injunction putting Bob Barr on the Louisiana ballot, but the 5th circuit had overturned injunctive relief. The case continues, in order to resolve the constitutional question of whether the Secretary of State had authority to extend the statutory deadline long enough to assist the Republican Party but not long enough to assist the Libertarians, who were (and are) also a ballot-qualified party in that state. The state argues the case is moot.

On January 29, a federal lawsuit was filed by a veteran Foreign Service officer, charging that Hillary Clinton is not eligible to serve as Secretary of State because the pay of that office was raised while she was a U.S. Senator. The case is sponsored by Judicial Watch and is Rodearmel v Clinton, 1:09-cv-171, in D.C. The case was assigned to Judge Reggie Walton.

Art. I, sec. 6, clause 2, of the U.S. Constitution says, “No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been encreased during such Time.” Thanks to Bill Van Allen for this news.

Bills have been introduced in at least three states to provide that each U.S. House district should elect its own presidential elector. In Mississippi, SB 2889 was introduced by Senator David Jordan (D-Greenwood), but it died in Committee on February 3. In Indiana, Representative Dennis Avery (D-Evansville) introduced HB 1712. In South Carolina, Senator Phil Leventis (D-Sumter) introduced SB 365.

In Alabama, HB 265 would provide that the state’s presidential electors should be apportioned according to what percentage of the total vote they received, so that a Republican who received 55% of the popular vote would get 5 electoral votes and a Democrat who received 45% would get 4 electoral votes.

The National Popular Vote Plan bill has now been introduced in eight more states: Alaska (SB 92), Arkansas (HB 1339), Maine (LD 56), Mississippi (HB 1360), Missouri (HB 452), Nebraska (LB 623), Oregon (HB 2588), and Rhode Island (SB 161). This blog had already noted that it had been introduced this year in Connecticut, Florida, Kentucky, Maine, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington. There is also a bill pending in New Jersey to repeal the National Popular Vote Plan law.