On July 18, a Democrat who wants to contribute large amounts of money to a Democratic nominee for West Virginia Supreme Court Justice filed a lawsuit to stop extra public funding for a Republican nominee. The case is Callaghan v Tennant, 2:12-3419, southern district.

This is a switch, because generally, lawsuits against extra public funding for publicly-funded candidates who have well-funded opponents are filed by Republicans. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2011 that extra public funding for publicly-funded candidates who have well-funded opponents violates the U.S. Constitution. There is a conceivable argument that the U.S. Supreme Court decision doesn’t apply to judicial races, so the outcome of this lawsuit is not completely predictable. The Republican candidate who would receive extra public funding if the law were upheld is Allen Loughry. He is the only candidate for Justice of the Supreme Court who even applied for public funding. West Virginia is electing two State Supreme Court judges this November, in partisan races. Here is a story about the case.