On April 3, the Ninth Circuit upheld a California law that says local initiative sponsors must have their name on the initiative petition. The April 3 decision is from an en banc panel. The original 3-judge panel last year had struck down that law by a 2-1 vote. Chula Vista Citizens for Jobs v Norris, 12-55726. The plaintiff had argued that his privacy was violated by having his name on the petition. Here is the decision. Thanks to How Appealing for the link.
Ballot Access News
Edited By Richard Winger
Good decision. It is entirely appropriate for the name of an
initiative petition’s official proponent to appear on the petition. For it not to appear could be misleading to prospective signers.
The irony here is that the original case was from 2009. After the initial petition was rejected, a new petition with the human sponsors was circulated, and the proposition was approved by the voters. This has been stewing through the courts ever since. There might have been a lower court ruling that it was moot, that may have slowed litigation.
Of course if a proposition has corporate or union sponsorship, they will find a personal sponsor not closely associated with them.
One more TYRANT law by the ANTI-Democracy minority rule gerrymander robot party hacks in the CA legislature.
The robot courts LOVE enforcing TYRANT laws —
just like the German/Russia courts enforcing the Hitler / Stalin laws.
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P.R. and nonpartisan App.V.
The case wasn’t moot because it was capable of repetition yet evading review.