On June 30, James Foster, an independent candidate for Mayor of Philadelphia last November, filed a federal lawsuit against the sponsors of the three mayoral general election debates. The sponsors excluded him from all debates. The case is Foster v The Committee of 70, e.d., 2:16cv-3598.

It is somewhat unusual for an excluded candidate to sue debate sponsors months after the election was over. The law on debates is that there must be objective criteria for debate sponsors to use, when deciding whom to invite. See this story, which has a copy of Foster’s Complaint.