On September 19, the faction of the Michigan Libertarian Party that is not recognized by the national committee of the Libertarian Party asked the U.S. District Court that is hearing the trademark case to stay last month’s order prohibiting them from calling themselves the Libertarian Party of Michigan.
On the same day they filed a notice of Appeal to the Sixth Circuit.
On September 19, the six Alabama Republican members of the U.S. House filed this amicus curiae brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in the redistricting case. They, of course, want the U.S. Supreme Court to rule against the 3-judge U.S. District Court that ordered new districts.
Their brief claims that the 3-judge U.S. District Court plan amounts to a “partisan gerrymander”. That is somewhat funny. In 2022, the Republicans won 86% of the Alabama seats, even though they only got 70% of the popular vote cast for U.S. House in Alabama. If the U.S. District Court plan had been in effect, they probably would have won 71% of the seats (five out of seven), which would be almost exactly in proportion to their popular vote.
On September 19, the plaintiffs in the Alabama U.S. House redistricting lawsuit filed their brief in the U.S. Supreme Court. The brief scolds the state for re-making the same arguments they already made earlier in this same case when it was before the U.S. Supreme Court. Read the brief here.
On August 1, the Florida Secretary of State revoked the qualified status of the Reform Party, for failure to file campaign finance reports. See the ruling here.
The Reform Party is now no longer qualified in any state.
However, the Reform Party is free to re-file for qualified status in Florida. Thanks to Independent Political Report for the news.
Constitutional Law Professors Josh Blackman and Seth Barrett Tillman have published a scholarly paper that argues that the 14th amendment, section 3, does not apply to presidents or to candidates for president. Use this link to see the paper. The title is “Sweeping and forcing the President Into Section 3.”
Section 3 says, “No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enmies thereof.”
Among other points, the article says that common word usage in the 19th century makes it clear that “any office” refers to appointed positions, not elected positions. Thanks to ElectionLawBlog for the link.
At Reason, Steven Calabresi summarizes the points in the article and says he agrees.
