On November 6, the proponents of privacy for Washington state referendum petitions asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear their appeal. Here is the brief. As noted earlier, on September 10 the U.S. District Court in Washington state had ordered the Washington Secretary of State not to release the names and addresses of people who signed the R-71 petition. But on October 15, the 9th circuit had ruled that the Secretary of State could release the information. Then, on October 19, the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled 8-1 that the information should not be released, at least until the U.S. Supreme Court decided the issue of whether injunctive relief had been proper.

In the meantime, the West Virginia Supreme Court has agreed to hear another case on the same issue. A lower state court had ruled in favor of privacy for initiative petitions earlier this year, in a case from Jefferson County. That case is Shepherdstown Observer v Maghan, no. 09-c-169 in Jefferson County Circuit Court. This is a different case than the recent one in Ohio County, West Virginia, in which a lower state court had ruled that such petitions are public information. The Ohio case was decided November 5, 2009. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the news about the cert petition in Washington state.