On April 4, Georgia asked the Eleventh Circuit to stay its opinion in Green Party of Georgia v Kemp. The Eleventh Circuit had said earlier this year that a trial should be held in U.S. District Court over whether the state’s presidential ballot access law is unconstitutionally difficult. Georgia state government attorneys are so eager to avoid such a trial, they say they will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to cancel the order for a trial.

The state’s request for a stay says that the plaintiffs, including the Green Party of Georgia and the Constitution Party of Georgia, filed nothing to suggest that the parties could possibly win the lawsuit. The state’s claim is not true. The plaintiffs already filed evidence that no presidential petition has succeeded in Georgia (neither minor party nor independent) since 2000. The U.S. Supreme Court has said several times that when a ballot access law is so difficult it is seldom used, then it is probably unconstitutional.