Four Tennessee state representatives have agreed to be co-plaintiffs in a proposed new lawsuit that will challenge President Obama’s eligibility to be president. They are Eric Swafford, Glen Casada, Stacey Campfield, and Frank Niceley, all Republicans. The proposed lawsuit is being sponsored by Dr. Orly Taitz’ Defend Our Freedoms Foundation. Here is one of the many articles in Tennessee newspapers. It is not clear that state legislators have any more standing than plaintiffs in earlier, similar lawsuits. Even members of Congress have been told by the courts, in past lawsuits, that they lacked standing in certain types of constitutional cases.

The Washington Senate Committee on Government Operations & Elections will hold a hearing on Thursday, February 19, on SB 5681. That is the Secretary of State’s bill changing the definition of qualified party from one that polled 5% for a statewide nominee, to one that polled 1% for President. Also it defines an unqualified party to be a group that submits a petition of 100 signatures. If the bill passes, candidates will not be able to put a statement on the ballot that they “prefer” any imaginary political party. Instead they will only be able to choose the name of a group that is either a qualified party or a group that has submitted 100 signatures that year.

The U.S. Senate will vote on S160 on Monday, February 23. This is the bill to expand the size of the U.S. House permanently, by two seats. In the short run, D.C. would get one of the seats and Utah would get the other. Thanks to Rick Hasen for this news.