All the briefs have now been filed in Green Party of Tennessee et al v Hargett, U.S. District Court, middle district, 3:11-cv-692. The issue is the new ballot access law for minor parties passed by the 2011 session of the legislature. The old law had been declared unconstitutional in 2010. It provided for a petition of 40,042 valid signatures, due in late March. The new law keeps the same number of signatures and moves the deadline to early April. The new lawsuit argues that the new law is just as unconstitutional as the old law.

Here is the state’s brief, which assumes that Tennessee has no policy option except to provide that all parties, even newly-qualifying parties, nominate by primary. The state says the deadline can’t be later than April because the state must provide for primaries for new parties. The state’s brief says that primaries have been mandatory for parties since 1909. What the state’s brief does not say is that the 1909 law, requiring primaries, only applied to parties that had polled 10% of the vote in the last election. Between 1909 and 1972, Tennessee let newly-qualifying parties, and small older parties, continue to nominate by convention. The plaintiffs’ reply brief is here, and makes that clear.

The lawsuit has other issues as well, including the 2011 law that says the two older major parties always get the best spot on general election ballots. The oral argument is January 9, 2012, at 3:30 p.m., in Nashville.