On March 29, the Sixth Circuit issued an opinion in Graveline v Benson, 20-1337. It strikes down Michigan’s petition requirement for statewide independent candidates. The law requires 30,000 signatures, due July 19 of an election year.

The basis for the decision lies partly in the fact that the deadline is substantially earlier than the date on which qualified political parties in Michigan choose their nominees for most statewide state offices. For most statewide state offices, there are no primaries, and all qualified parties nominate by convention, which can be as late as September of the election year. This case arose in 2018, when Christopher Graveline, an independent candidate for Attorney General, was unwilling to decide whether to run as an independent until he could ascertain whom the major parties were likely to nominate. Thus he didn’t start until June, and by the July deadline, he only had 14,157 signatures. He sued and won injunctive relief, and was on the ballot in 2018.

Another basis for the decision is that except for two independent presidential candidates, no independent statewide candidate in Michigan has ever managed to complete the petition. Michigan has only had statutory independent candidate procedures since 1988. Before then, it was literally impossible for anyone to qualify as an independent for any office in Michigan, but that failure to provide for independent procedures was declared unconstitutional in Michigan in 1976. The legislators were so resistant to allowing independent candidates, they refused to obey the court opinion for twelve years.

The decision is 2-1. It is written by Judge Karen Nelson Moore, a Clinton appointee, and is also signed by Judge Ronald Lee Gilman, another Clinton appointee. The dissenter is Judge Richard Allen Griffin, a Bush Jr. appointee. UPDATE: here is a news story about the decision.