On December 13, the Eleventh Circuit heard oral argument in Hall v Merrill, 16-16766. The issue is Alabama ballot access for U.S. House independent candidates in special elections. Last year the U.S. District Court had ruled that because the time for collecting signatures in special elections is much less than in regular elections, the petition requirement of 3% of the last gubernatorial vote is too severe.
The hearing lasted 40 minutes, longer than scheduled. Listen to the oral argument at this link. Scroll down to the sixth case, Hall v Secretary of State.
William Pryor was the Alabama Attorney General from 1997-2004, having been elected in 1998 & 2002 and then resigning from the AG spot to accept the federal judge position. While not related to ballot access, it should be noted that Pryor wrote the First Vagabonds Church of God v. Orlando (11th Cir. 2011) opinion, which rejected an as-applied challenge by Orlando Food Not Bombs to a municipal ordinance that restricted the frequency of its feedings of homeless persons in parks located within a 2-mile radius of the Orlando City Hall. The court (thru Pryor) ruled that the feeding of homeless persons constituted expressive conduct and determined that the ordinance constituted a reasonable time, place, or manner restriction and a reasonable regulation of expressive conduct.
EQUAL for ALL candidates ???
Hoe many Fed/State/local HACKS have been appointed to be Fed judges for *good behavior* – ie life ???
AppV for ALL judges – max 6 year terms.
In the contextual​ nature of reports of single-winner elections, the BAN position is to reinforce those plurality winner-takes-all elections with articles about pluralists, which act to further the conversation to benefit a two-party system.
Are you interested in pure proportional representation?
The United Coalition has been using pure proportional representation for more than twenty-two consecutive years and it works fine.
http://www.international-parliament.org/ucc.html
But again –
Candidate/incumbent replacement lists during election or term.
ie NO more very high cost vacancy special elections.
Reason for Concern?: In Campbell v. Bennett, 212 F. Supp. 2d 1339 (M.D. Ala. 2002) Then Alabama AG William Pryor was restrained by an injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson, to take appropriate steps immediately to place an independent candidate on the ballot who Pryor and then SOS Bennett had refused to put on the ballot.
Problem: Judge Thompson is the same judge involved in the Hall case, it is again about an independent candidate the SOS refused to put on the ballot and now Pryor is one of the judges on the case. Additionally, the original defendant in the Hall case, then Alabama SOS Bennett, was the same SOS in the Campbell case – a defendant with Pryor who refused to put the independent on the ballot. Additionally, Bennett has written an article supporting the idea of Pryor for the U.S. Supreme Court, and describing the two as close friends who campaigned together.
Appearance indicate a basis for recusal in Hall case?