On December 4, U.S. District Court Judge Charles Lovell upheld Montana’s law that bans out-of-state circulators for initiative petitions. He also upheld the Montana law that bans paying initiative circulators on a per-signature basis. Pierce v Stapleton, 6:18cv-63. Here is the 33-page opinion, which fails to mention most of the precedents striking down such laws. The judge said there isn’t enough evidence in this case to justify striking down either law. He wrote, “Plaintiffs have not demonstrated that there are not enough Montana residents to serve as circulators or that Montana residents are inferior communicators.”
Judge Lovell is a Reagan appointee, and is age 91.
1. Each State is quite separate regime for election stuff.
2. Subverting right to petition indirectly ???
3. ONE person / voter forms – candidates and issues —
esp in a State with about 1 person / 10 sq miles average.
This is quite a big ruling. Why? Because it sits in the 9th District. If it get further appealed to the full district then these restrictions could affect all the other states in the 9th district. California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Alaska, Idaho. This will put a huge hurdle for states that use direct democracy frequently.