Is SOS Kobach Backing Down from a Second #KSSEN Court Fight?

From this important Brian Lowry report, the threat I see from Kobach if Dems don’t appoint is to go to the press, not the courts:

“This says ‘shall.’ I don’t know how anyone can read ‘shall’ to mean ‘may’,” Kobach said at a news conference after the court’s decision.

“Eight days is more than enough time. If the Democratic Party wishes to play games with our election laws and not nominate a replacement, then I encourage the members of the press corps to ask them why,” Kobach said.

And as expected Democrats look like they are going to do nothing:

“My position is until the court tells me to do something, I’m not going to anything,” Joan Wagnon, the chair of the Kansas Democratic Party, said earlier in the week, on Tuesday.

Thursday, Wagnon said in a statement that she applauded the court’s “decision to follow the law and stop Kris Kobach from undermining Kansas democracy.”

UPDATE: The updated version of the story makes it clear that Kobach said he will go to court if necessary.  He’s also offering what appears to be a novel interpretation of the MOVE Act:

Kobach said federal law would allow him to postpone the mailing date of overseas absentee ballots as long as the ballots had a 45-day window to be counted.

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