As noted earlier, Robert Raymond, a Wisconsin resident, sued several California counties in August 2012 over the state ban on letting out-of-state residents circulate petitions in California. That case is in U.S. District Court in Sacramento and is Raymond v Johnson, 2:12-cv-2217.

On October 24, the counties filed a motion, asking the court to force the Secretary of State and the Attorney General to be added as defendants, even though those state officers do not want to be added as defendants. The counties want the state officials to do the work of defending the state law. The plaintiff argues that it is the counties that enforce the law, and make the decision on whether to prosecute out-of-state circulators, so the counties alone are the proper defendants. The court will hear the matter of whether the state officials should be brought into the case on February 25, 2013.

Of course, it would be much simpler if the California legislature would repeal the ban on out-of-state circulators.