On January 12, the Ohio Libertarian Party asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene in its ballot access case, which was filed in September 2013. The case is still in the U.S. District Court, although the U.S. District Court has ruled on most of the case. The part of the case that is still not decided in the U.S. District Court is whether the 2014 removal of the party’s candidate for Governor from the primary ballot was a case of discriminatory enforcement.

The party had asked the Sixth Circuit to reverse another finding of the U.S. District Court, on whether the 2013 Ohio ballot access law violates the Ohio Constitution. But when the Sixth Circuit ruled on that, on December 9, it dismissed that appeal on procedural grounds. The Sixth Circuit opinion of December 9 was written by Judge Alice Batchelder, who is married to William Batchelder. Mr. Batchelder was speaker of the Ohio House when the challenged law was passed in 2013, and he was a co-sponsor of the legislation. After the Sixth Circuit released its order, which revealed for the first time that Judge Batchelder was on the panel for that case, the party asked for reconsideration, largely on the grounds that Judge Batchelder should have recused herself because she is the wife of the legislator. But Judge Batchelder then declined to recuse herself.

Now the party has asked the U.S. Supreme Court for a stay, which would restore its appeal in the Sixth Circuit. Here is the party’s filing to the U.S. Supreme Court, which is 22 pages long, plus an Exhibit consisting of the Sixth Circuit’s orders. 15A-725.