On October 17, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court affirmed the order of the Commonwealth Court, in the case called “In re: the Substitute Nomination Certificate of Bob Barr”, no. 70 MAP 2008.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has not yet written an opinion, but it probably will. The output for October 17 is simply, “And now, this 17th day of October 2008, the Order of the Commonwealth Court is affirmed.” The decision is unanimous. The issue had been whether there is anything wrong with the practice of showing a stand-in presidential candidate on a minor party or independent candidate petition. The Republican Party had hired seven attorneys to press its point that the practice of using a stand-in is corrupt. The Republican Party’s theory is that if the stand-in knows that he or she is a stand-in, that is fraud.
Nice to see the good guys win for a change. Obviously it made total sense that we would prevail in absurd case, but stranger things have happened. Congrats to Bob Barr, Sam Stretton and all involved in fighting off this baseless challenge.
I’m glad the GOP brought this case to court and got their asses handed to them. Thanks for the precedent, guys!
This is excellent news for ballot access in Pennsylvania.