Faye Coffield, an independent candidate for U.S. House in Georgia last year, brought a lawsuit in federal court last year, alleging that the requirements are so severe for an independent to get on the ballot for U.S. House, that they are unconstitutional. They have not been used since 1964, and back then no one checked the signatures, they were due in October of the election year, and congressional boundaries followed county lines (except that Fulton County was split into two districts).

The U.S. District Court ruled against Coffield on April 30, 2009, and she appealed. Her 11th circuit brief was submitted on August 17, 2009, and the state’s response was due September 17. However, according to the Clerk’s office at the 11th circuit, the state neither filed a brief, nor asked for more time. So, the case has been submitted to the judges, whose identities are not known.

It is very rare for a state to fail to file a brief in a constitutional ballot access case. In 1988, when Lenora Fulani challenged the start date for an independent petition to begin circulating in California, the state of California accidentally didn’t respond, and the U.S. District Court Judge declared the start date unconstitutional. When the state asked for permission to file a brief late, the Judge accepted a late brief, but she did not reverse her opinion, and so Fulani won the case. The state was forced to move the start date for independent presidential petitions from June to April of the election year. Such petitions were (and still are) due in August.