On April 21, U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Bataillon, a Clinton appointee, held oral arguments in Citizens in Charge v Gale, 4:09-cv-3255. This lawsuit challenges the Nebraska law that bars out-of-state petitioners. See this newspaper story, which describes the testimony of Paul Jacob. The lawsuit also challenges a law saying petition sheets must contain a sentence in red ink, saying that the circulator is being paid (if the circulator is indeed being paid). The lawsuit also challenged the county distribution requirement for independent candidates, but this year the legislature repealed the county distribution requirement, so that part of the lawsuit is moot.

Judge Bataillon also has jurisdiction over another lawsuit, Bernbeck v Gale, 4:10-cv-3001, which challenges a Nebraska law that makes it illegal to pay circulators on a per-signature basis. The argument in that lawsuit was held on December 21, 2010, and no opinion has been handed down yet.