On January 3, the Washington State Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the Seattle Housing Authority cannot bar residents of public housing from placing political signs and posters on their exterior doors. Some of the doors face the street, and some face interior halls. The majority depended on the First Amendment and said, “Displaying a sign from one’s own residence often carries a message quite distinct from placing the same sign somewhere else.” The dissent said, “While there is undoubtably concern about tenants being able to express their views, there are neighbors with rights as well.”

The case is Resident Action Council v Seattle Housing Authority, 80006-5. Thanks to How Appealing for this news.

On January 3, U.S. District Court Judge Robert Hinkle refused to issue an injunction to postpone the Florida Democratic presidential primary. However, the case remains alive, over the constitutional issue. The Florida Democratic voter who had filed the case had argued that it is the state’s fault that the Florida Democratic voters can’t elect any delegates to the national convention, and that therefore the state should be forced to schedule the primary in February. If the primary were in February, Florida Democrats could have delegates to the national convention. Ausman v Browning, 4:07-cv-519, Tallahassee. The judge said it would be chaotic to reschedule the primary at this late date.

Unity08 decided not to file the form that Texas law requires, giving notice that it intends to qualify as a party during 2008. Unity08 says it will have a major announcement about itself in a week or so.

Some months ago, Unity08 had hired an experienced ballot access director to research and coordinate the details of ballot access petitioning for the whole nation. However, that individual was laid off on December 19. These actions suggest that Unity08 has decided not to pursue its original mission of qualifying itself as a political party in as many states as possible before choosing a presidential nominee.