On Tuesday, December 15, the Second Circuit heard oral argument in SAM Party v Cuomo, 20-3047. The three judges on the case are Robert D. Stack (Clinton appointee), Michael H. Park (Trump appointee), and Steven J. Menashi (Trump appointee). The hearing lasted 30 minutes. Anyone can hear the argument at this link. Choose “archive of audio oral arguments”. The SAM argument is the only case argued on December 15, so it is easy to find the link if one knows that date. The state made several arguments that are factually incorrect. The attorney for the state said that Maryland is a state that requires a party to poll a certain share of the vote for president in order to retain its party status. This is not correct. In Maryland, a party with a certain registration remains permanently on the ballot, whether it runs for president or not. Furthermore, Maryland has a party petition, and if it is circulated in a presidential year, the party then enjoys qualified status for the next two elections; therefore it need not run for president in order to remain on the ballot. The attorney for the state also said that a state has an interest in testing the viability of a party every two years, and because there is sometimes no U.S. Senate election in New York (as was the case in 2020), the state must use the vote for president to determine whether a party should remain on the ballot. He said, “It’s the only test available.” In reality, a state can use a registration test, or test of whether the party continues to be organized, or a test of how many nominees for all office a party chooses to run.