Coverage in the Oklahoman:

The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Wednesday heard oral arguments in a case challenging the timing of the special election to fill the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Jim Inhofe. 

Enid attorney Stephen Jones argues that because Inhofe hasn’t officially resigned yet, although he’s announced his intent to retire next year, Gov. Kevin Stitt was premature in setting a special U.S. Senate election to coincide with this year’s regularly scheduled elections. 

Justice M. John Kane IV called it a “novel question,” but with candidate filing for the special election just a few weeks away, the court won’t have a lengthy period of time to deliberate. 

I expressed skepticism here at ELB about the election, but the State’s brief in the case is quite good and has made me revisit some of my assumptions. The Court may never get to the merits (there are a couple of procedural hurdles to overcome to get there).

UPDATE: The Oklahoma Supreme Court has unanimously denied the application to assume jurisdiction in a one-sentence order. So the case is, in fact, tossed on procedural grounds (at least in this court).