On July 21, the Arkansas Secretary of State determined that No Labels is now a ballot-qualified party for purposes of the presidential election.
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Here is the blog post from Walter Olson, Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute.
No labels is getting attention for its idea of possibly running a centrist ticket in 2024. But few reporters explain that the No Labels idea is not new, and that it was tried in 2012 by a group called Americans Elect. And even before that, a similar idea was launched in 2008 called Unity ’08. A National Public Radio story recounts the history of the 2008 and 2012 attempts. Ironically, virtually no one attacked those groups, but No Labels is getting fiercely attacked.
On July 20, the Missouri Supreme Court issued an opinion in State ex rel Fitz-James v Bailey, SC100132. It is unanimous, although one justice didn’t participate. It says the Attorney General cannot block an initiative on abortion law simply because he disagrees with the Auditor’s estimate of how much the government would need to spend if the initiative passed.
In Missouri, the initiative petitions cannot start to circulate until the measure has a title and a cost estimate. The Attorney General has delayed the start of the petition drive by 100 days because he asserted he disagrees with the Auditor’s figure. The Court said the Attorney General does not have the authority to interfere with the cost estimate. Here is the opinion. Thanks to several people for the news.
U.S. District Court Judge Steve Jones will hold a trial in the Georgia redistricting lawsuits beginning on September 5. The post-trial briefs are due September 25. The case is complicated and involves a challenge to the U.S. House and legislative districts.
If the judge rules against the current districts, the legislature will be given a chance to draw new ones. But the state may appeal any ruling against the districts. It is therefore somewhat likely that the new districdts, if new districts are needed, won’t be known until 2024. And if the district boundaries aren’t known until 2024, several Georgia precedents would require that petitioning candidates will need fewer signatures, relative to how much petitioning time is lost. The Georgia petitioning period runs from January through mid-July.