James Hall, an independent candidate for U.S. House in an Alabama special election, has a ballot access appeal pending in the U.S. Supreme Court, Hall v Merrill, 18-1362.  The state has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to extend the deadline for its voluntary response from May 30 to June 29.  This is an obvious signal that the state expects to file a response.

Usually, when a minor party or independent candidate files a cert petition with the U.S. Supreme Court, the state responds by declining to respond.  The U.S. Supreme Court hasn’t accepted a cert petition filed by a minor party or independent candidate in a ballot access case since 1991, unless the minor party was a co-plaintiff along with either the Democratic or Republican Party, or both.

The issue in the Alabama case is whether a petition requirement of 3% of the last gubernatorial vote is too difficult in a special congressional election, when the 6,000 or so signatures must be gathered in a short time.  The U.S. District Court had struck down the law as applied to special U.S. House elections, but then the Eleventh Circuit erased the U.S. District Court decision and said the District Court should not have ruled, because it ruled after the election was over.  The 2-1 majority on the Eleventh Circuit felt the case was moot.