Last year, the New York city council suspended term limits (for themselves and for Mayor) that the city voters had passed in 1993 and reaffirmed in 1996. Supporters of the term limits law filed a federal lawsuit on November 10, 2008. The case was argued on January 5, 2009. The case is Molinari v Bloomberg, federal court, Brooklyn, 08-cv-4539. Here is the 56-page transcript. From the judge’s comments about the audience, it sounds as though the courtroom was crowded to capacity. The judge let spectators sit in the jury box, to help let as many people as possible into the audience.

On January 7, backers of California’s Proposition 8 filed a federal lawsuit, asking that they be exempted from complying with California election laws that require disclosure of the names of people who give as much as $100 to a campaign for or against an initiative. The case is ProtectMarriage.com v Bowen, no. 2:09-cv-00058 (Sacramento). It was assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Morrison England, who was appointed in 2002. The case depends on the 1982 U.S. Supreme Court precedent Brown v Socialist Workers ’74 Campaign Committee, which said that disclosure is not compelled if there is a reasonable possibility that campaign contributors, if identified, will be subject to harassment. Besides the Socialist Workers Party, other groups that have won freedom from disclosure include the Freedom Socialist Party, Socialist Action, and the Communist Party.

On January 7, the New York Senate elected new officers, and for the first time since 1965, Democrats are in charge. Although the November 2008 election had resulted in 32 Democrats and 30 Republicans being elected, there had been no certainty that Republicans would lose control, because 3 New York City Democrats had threatened to vote with Republicans, for the purpose of organizing the Senate.