On September 9, the Seventh Circuit agreed with the U.S. District Court that Indiana cannot provide for limited nominations in partisan judicial races. The case is Common Cause Indiana v Individual Members of the Indiana Election Commission, 14-3300. Here is the 32-page opinion.

Indiana’s law only applies to Marion County, which is identical to the city of Indianapolis. The law says no party may run candidates for more than half the seats for Superior Court Judge. Some years 16 seats are up; in those years no party may run more than 8 nominees. Other years, 20 seats are up; in those years no party may run more than 10 nominees. The purpose of the law is to prevent one party from winning all the races.

The decision is on shaky grounds, because elsewhere around the nation, limited voting and limited nominations have been upheld. The decision mentions decisions upholding limited voting and/or nominations in New York, Connecticut, and the District of Columbia. The decisions from Connecticut and the District of Columbia were summarily affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court. The Seventh Circuit declines to follow those precedents on the grounds that judicial elections are different than elections for other office. The cases from New York, Connecticut, and D.C. involved city council and school board elections. The decision is by U.S. District Court Judge Theresa Springmann, a Bush Jr. appointee sitting temporarily on the Seventh Circuit for this case. The decision is co-signed by Judge Michael S. Kanne, a Reagan appointee; and Ilana D. Rovner, a Bush Sr. appointee.

The decision says the Indianapolis limited nomination law restricts the right of voters to a choice of whom to vote for. One flaw in that argument is that, in theory, minor party and independent candidates are also permitted to run, so if there were robust independent candidates or minor party candidacies, the voters would still have a meaningful choice in the general election. But, the decision says there haven’t been any such candidates since 2000 and 2002, when there were some Libertarian nominees. Obviously when there are only Democratic and Republican nominees on the general election ballot, and each of those parties can only run for half the seats (and assuming there are no declared write-in candidates), the voters have no choice whatsoever; the outcome is predetermined. Thanks to How Appealing for the news of this decision.