On December 14, Charlene Mitchell died at the age of 92. She was the Communist Party presidential candidate in 1968. She was the first black woman whose name appeared on a government-printed ballot as a presidential candidate. Also, she was the first third party candidate ever placed on a ballot by a federal court (other than the U.S. Supreme Court). On October 2, 1968, a three-judge U.S. District Court ordered Minnesota to put her on the ballot. She had submitted the necessary 2,000 signatures, but the Secretary of State had kept her off because he believed that Congress has outlawed the Communist Party.

The case was Mitchell v Donovan, 290 F Supp 642. One of the three judges was Harry Blackmun, who was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court the following year. No lower federal court, prior to that decision, had ever ordered a state to put a minor party or independent candidate on the ballot on the grounds that the law was probably unconstitutional.

Mitchell appeared on the ballot in Washington state also. The Secretary of State of Washington did not try to keep her off the ballot. She got 415 votes in Minnesota and 377 in Washington. Two states, California and Ohio, counted write-in votes for her. She got 260 in California and 23 in Ohio.

In 1970, the U.S. Supreme Court heard Minnesota’s appeal. Mitchell v Donovan, 398 U.S. 427. The Court issued a per curiam decision saying the case was not a suitable vehicle to decide whether the Communist Party really was barred by a federal law that had passed years earlier.

But in 1972, the Communist Party ran Gus Hall for president, and sued Indiana over the loyalty oath for parties, and won that case in the U.S. Supreme Court. Communist Party of Indiana v Whitcomb, 1974. Thanks to Derek Muller for the news about Mitchell’s death.

On December 21, the Republican National Committee set the dates for the 2024 presidential convention in Milwaukee. It will be July 15-18. This is a relatively early date, and if large segments of the public are dissatisfied with whatever transpires at the convention, there will still be time for alternate presidential candidates to emerge. Most states have August petition deadlines for outsider candidates for president, and a few are in September. Thanks to Thomas Jones for this news. The Democratic Party still has not set its dates, nor its host city.

The U.S. District Court handling Adams v Carney, 1:20cv-1680, has moved ahead with steps to perhaps settle the case by arbitration. This is the case against the Delaware law that says most judicial appointments can only be given to members of one of the two largest parties.

This case already has been in the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that the plaintiff, an independent, lacked standing. He then filed a new case, in which he cured the standing problem. Then the U.S. District Court ruled he has standing. So now, it appears that the state will no longer be defending its law, because the lower federal courts already ruled against the state in the first version of the lawsuit.

It may be that a bill will be introduced in the Delaware legislature in 2023 to change the restriction.