On December 5, U.S. District Court Judge Doug Reyes, an Obama appointee, issued an opinion in Castro v Fontes, 2:23cv-1865. The opinion rejects keeping former President Donald Trump off the Arizona Republican presidential primary. The opinion says that John Anthony Castro, the Republican presidential candidate who filed this lawsuit and many similar lawsuits in other states, does not have standing. He acknowledges that Castro appears to have qualified for the Arizona Republican presidential primary ballot, but cites the small amount of campaign spending in the Castro campaign and says Castro has not shown that he is really in competition with Trump for votes.

The opinion is twelve pages and has more precedents listed than some of the other decisions in Trump ballot access cases.

On December 5, Michael Steinberg filed a federal lawsuit in Florida against the law that permits a party to dictate which names appear on its presidential primary ballot. Steinberg says he wants to vote for Congressman Dean Phillips, who is running for president in Democratic presidential primaries. In Florida the Democratic Party said it doesn’t want any names on its ballot except President Joe Biden, so the state won’t hold that primary.

Phillips is not a co-plaintiff. The case is Steinberg v Democratic Party of Florida and Byrd, n.d., 4:23cv-518. It is assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Allen C. Winsor, a Trump appointee.

Jingchao Xiong, a registered member of the Common Sense Party, has filed to run in the California primary for State Senate, Eleventh District (basically San Francisco). Under California election law, assuming his 40-signature petition is valid, he will be listed on the March primary ballot as “party preference: none”, even though he does have a party preference, which is the Common Sense Party.

The Common Sense Party is not ballot-qualified in California. If it were, then he could have his party label on the ballot next to his name. The Common Sense Party is the California affiliate of the Forward Party.