On December 14, the Libertarian Party filed this petition for a rehearing en banc in Barr v Galvin, 09-2426, the case concerning whether Bob Barr should have been on the Massachusetts ballot in 2008.  The party had won this case in U.S. District Court before the election, and Massachusetts did print his name on the November ballot, even though the party’s petition had listed stand-in nominee George Phillies.  But after the election was over, the First Circuit ruled that the U.S. District Court had been wrong.

The party had listed a stand-in because it wasn’t holding its presidential nominating convention until late May, and the party felt it needed to use the entire time that the state permits for obtaining its 10,000 signatures.  Massachusetts lets petitions begin to circulate in February of the election year.  In 2007 the Secretary of State had e-mailed the party “If the Libertarian Party seeks to substitute a candidate for President who they already got nominating signatures for on nominating papers, our Office can prepare a form that allows members of the party to request the substitution of the candidate.”