On May 22, a Michigan state trial court issued a Temporary Restraining Order, ordering the Michigan Libertarian Party officers to reinstate the delegates to the national convention who had been dropped by the party’s Judicial Committee on May 18.  Buzuma v Chadderdon, Cheboygan County Circuit Court, 24-9042-cz.

There have been two factions of the Michigan Libertarian Party since 2022.  The Chadderdon faction had held a convention in March 2024 to select delegates to the national convention, which opens Friday, May 24, in Washington, D.C.  At the March 2024 convention, most of the delegates elected were members of the Buzuma faction.   Activists in the Buzuma faction had attended the meeting, even though it had been called by their intra-party opponents, and had largely prevailed in the selection of national delegates.  Then, on May 18, the Chadderdon officers had removed most of the delegates.

The court order says the original list of delegates must be resubmitted to the national party officers, and that after it is submitted, no further submissions are permitted.  It also says that failure to obey the court order will result in contempt of court.  The decision is partly based on two Republican Party intra-party lawsuits settled by Michigan state courts earlier this year, which established the precedent that Michigan state courts will act in such intra-party disputes.

Here is the two-page order, and the attached Complaint, along with copies of Bylaws.  Thanks to ThirdPartyWatch for the link.

On May 21, the Georgia Libertarian Party asked a U.S. District Court to amend its Complaint in Cowen v Raffensperger, n.d., 1:17cv-4660.  This is the case filed to overturn the Georgia law on how a candidate can get on the November ballot for U.S. House if the candidate is not the nominee of a party that polled 20% of the vote in the last election.  The law is so severe that even though it is 81 years old, no minor party candidate for U.S. House has ever been able to comply with it.

The Libertarian Party request to amend the Complaint notes that the Georgia law was recently changed to allow any minor party to be on for president if it is already on for president in 20 other states or territories.  This opens up the state for the Libertarian Party to argue that the entire Georgia ballot access scheme involving minor parties violates Equal Protection.  Minor party presidential candidates can be on in Georgia even if they have no support whatsoever inside Georgia.  By contrast, minor party nominees for all other partisan office are kept off the ballot with prohibitive petition requirements.  Even the statewide petition is so strict that no minor party has completed the statewide petition since 1996, when the Reform Party did it.  Although Pat Buchanan petitioned in 2000, he did so as an independent candidate, not as the Reform Party nominee.