The lawsuit filed by the Constitution, Green and Libertarian Parties of Alabama has been docketed. It is Stein v Chapman, middle district, 2:12-cv-42. It was assigned to U.S. District Court Judge William K. Watkins, a Bush Jr. appointee. The lawsuit challenges the requirement that for a minor party to appear on the ballot in 2012, it must submit 44,829 valid signatures by March 13. The case is especially strong because it concerns a presidential election. Ever since the U.S. Supreme Court issued Anderson v Celebrezze in 1983, no ballot access petition deadline for parties or independent presidential candidates has ever been upheld, if it was earlier than May of the election year. UPDATR: here is the complaint.

Alabama will probably defend itself by saying that the minor parties are free to put their presidential candidates on the November ballot using the easier independent candidate petition method, but in 1974 the U.S. Supreme Court said in Storer v Brown that the minor party and independent candidate approaches to politics are “entirely different” and states must have constitutional procedures for both. In Alabama, candidates who use the independent candidate petition cannot print a party label on the ballot, other than the word “independent.” Also the Alabama independent presidential petition procedure does not permit stand-in presidential candidates.