Thursday News: Partial victory

JUDGE OVERRULES GOP, REINSTATES PRIMARIES IN STATE-WIDE JUDICIAL RACES: U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles issued an order on Wednesday that, in part, grants a request by Democratic Party officials who sued state lawmakers for canceling primary elections for all judicial races in 2018 – from the district courts to the state’s highest court. At a hearing last week, attorneys for the Democrats argued that the Republican-led General Assembly violated the party’s free speech and equal protection rights by doing away with the election that would have allowed the winnowing of candidates for the general election. Without primaries, ballots in judicial races could have many names on them. A candidate with just 30 percent of the vote could become a judge, according to changes in the law adopted in October. That, Democrats contended in a lawsuit filed late last year, makes it difficult for the party to put forward its best candidate.
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/politics-columns-blogs/under-the-dome/article19...

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