U.S. District Court Refuses to Enjoin New York Law that Bans “Independence” as a Party Label

Posted on by April 8, 2025

On April 7, U.S. District Court Judge Lashann DeArcy Hall, an Obama appointee, refused to enjoin the 2022 New York law that bans “independent” or “Independence” as words that can be part of the name of a party. The judge also assumed that therefore an independent candidate can’t use those labels because if the independent candidate were running for Governor or President and got 2% of the vote, that would create a ballot-qualified party and then that party would have an illegal name.

The judge said the ban is “not severe” because the candidate can campaign as an independent without having that label on the ballot. The decision does not even mention the unanimous U.S. Supreme Court decision Gralike v Cook, which struck down a Missouri law that put certain labels on the ballot for candidates that injured them. That case clearly established that the First Amendment free speech provision applies to ballot labels. Yet Judge Hall said the First Amendment doesn’t apply to ballot labels.

The plaintiff, Mayoral candidate Jim Walden, has already appealed to the Second Circuit. Walden v Kosinski, 25-764. The Second Circuit is expediting the case and all briefs will be in by April 15.

Comments

U.S. District Court Refuses to Enjoin New York Law that Bans “Independence” as a Party Label — 18 Comments

  2. How many other A to Z words that can / will be banned ???

    such as LIFE / LIBERTY / PROPERTY ???

    SUCH AS ANTI-TYRANTS , MAJORITY RULE, ETC ???

  12. Well I’m Donald Trump, the one they’re talking about, if you talk crap about me you’ll get punched in the mouth.

    If you disrespect me, forget about it, forget it. Best case for you is you’ll survive to regret it.

  15. Forget voter confusion, we have “judge confusion” here.

    Obviously, confusion is not a legal matter. Well, apparently, not so obvious: “Plaintiff concedes that the state has a compelling interest in preventing voter confusion.” p.17

  17. “Voter confusion is defined by Democrats and Republicans as desiring to vote for anyone without the labels Democrat or Republican.”

    Voters are treated like sheep who are only given the choice of going down either the Republican chute, or the Democratic chute to their slaughter. The method of dismemberment is different in each case, but you are still dead either way.

  18. I’m the Boss of all Bosses, King of all Kings. I bring the world hope, I’m why we have nice things.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.