Ralph Nader is appealing his lawsuit against the Democratic National Committee, and its allies, to the Maine Supreme Court. The lawsuit, Nader v Maine Democratic Party, et al., was filed in Maine state court in 2009. It argued that the Democratic Party’s actions in 2004 to keep Nader off the ballot were done in bad faith. Democrats filed challenges to Nader’s ballot status in 19 states in 2004, and a large majority of those challenges were found by administrative agencies or by courts to be unsound. Nader argues that the challenges were filed, not because the challengers believed in the challenges, but as a deliberate attempt to cripple his campaign.
Nader’s lawsuit lost in lower Maine state court on November 16, 2010. But on December 28, 2010, that same lower court ruled that Democrats may not recover fees and costs in that lawsuit (except that the judge awarded a nominal $1 to Toby Moffett, one of the defendants). The judge rejected the Democratic Party’s assertion that the Nader lawsuit was “meritless”. He wrote that the case “warrants further analysis and development through the evolution of normal civil litigation”. He also wrote, “The case raises significant questions concerning the appropriate judicial interpretation” of Maine’s anti-SLAPP law. UPDATE: see this story in the Bangor Daily News of January 4.
