On August 29, the West Virginia Supreme Court heard arguments in Blankenship v Warner, 18-0712. This is the case over whether the Constitution Party is permitted to nominate Don Blankenship for U.S. Senate. All five justices asked questions (some of them are sitting for this case only, because of vacancies on the court). The hearing lasted two hours and ten minutes. It would have been over sooner, but twice a fire alarm interrupted the proceedings and everyone had to leave the courtroom. A decision will probably be released the first week in September.
Symbolic alarm bell —
The ENTIRE rotted ANTI-Democracy minority rule gerrymander systems are on fire — 10,000 plus alarms
— since 1776 — States/Locals
— since 1789 USA — H. Reps, Senate, Prez/VP Electoral College.
WV knows about chaos — Civil War military machinations in 1861-1863 to make WV a State
— esp to guard Union railroads to west.
—
PR and AppV
I suspect that Patrick Morrisey pulled the fire alarm.
All kidding aside, IMO, Nigel Jeffries was the best intervener when he pointed out that all other “sore loser” cases which were upheld took place in states with completely open primaries. West Virginia’s primaries are semi-closed. A very important distinction which I wish the plaintiffs themselves would have addressed.
The fact that a couple of judges were pushing the write-in option as some sort of equivalence did not sit well with me. I know that hindsight is 20/20, but Bob Bastress should have stressed that the court should not consider Mr. Blankenship’s wealth. Most candidates cannot afford their own media attention in a write-in campaign.
Again, this was essentially Margaret Workman’s court since the three temp judges were all her picks. Beth Walker (R) will most assuredly vote against Don. She is only facing one impeachment charge. The question is weather Margaret wants to curry favor with the Republicans or the Democrats in the state senate who will be trying her for impeachment.
Question #2 – if unfavorable for Mr. Blankenship, will he take this to federal court?
Question #3 – if unfavorable, will he run as a write-in? We all know how that worked for Lisa Murkowski.
Fasten your seat belt!