On February 19, Judge David R. Thompson died at the age of 80. He was a semi-retired judge on the 9th circuit. He was based in San Diego. He had been appointed to the 9th circuit in 1985. In 2000 he wrote the decision that invalidated a Washington state law that required the names and addresses of paid circulators to be made public, by their employers, on a monthly basis. That case was called WIN v Rippie. His decision said, “One circulator stated that, because of the requirement, he was reluctant to solicit signatures on initiative petitions. Another had ceased soliciting signatures altogether. Indeed, it is precisely the risk that people will refrain from advocating controversial positions that makes a disclosure scheme of this kind especially pernicious.”

Also, in 1997, he wrote the 9th circuit’s en banc decision that upheld California’s term limits for state legislators, Bates v Jones.

Judge Thompson had been scheduled to sit on a 3-judge panel of the 9th circuit on February 22, but that hearing is now canceled. Thanks to How Appealing blog for this news.