On May 11, U.S. District Court Judge Sara Darrow refused to enjoin the Illinois 5% petition requirement for independent candidates for U.S. House. Flowers v Illinois State Board of Elections, c.d., 4:26cv-4062. Here is the opinion. It ignores the fact that no independent candidate for U.S. House in Illinois has managed to qualify since 1974 if the petition was challenged (excluding years ending in “2”, when the 5% requirement does not apply). The opinion says ten candidates have qualified in the last few decades for U.S. House, but they were candidates who were not challenged or who were running in years ending in “2”.
The decision depends on the 1971 U.S. Supreme Court decision Jenness v Fortson, but it fails to say that the reason the U.S. Supreme Court upheld that 5% petition was that the record showed that Georgia’s petition requirement had been successfully used in each of the two preceding elections before the case had been filed. And the opinion also errs when it says the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a June petition deadline in Jenness v Fortson. As Justice Stevens explained in Mandel v Bradley, the plaintiffs in Jenness did not challenge the petition deadline, so anything in Jenness about the deadline is dicta.
The order is also flawed because it implies that the only time the U.S. Supreme Court ever struck down a petition requirement on the grounds that too many signatures were required was in 1968, in Williams v Rhodes. The order does not mention the unanimous U.S. Supreme Court decision Illinois State Board of Elections v Socialist Workers Party, in 1979, which struck down a petition requirement of approximately 2%. The U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed that again in 1992 in Norman v Reed, yet another Illinois case.
Nor does the order mention the U.S. Supreme Court decision Storer v Brown, from 1974, which said there is no litmus test for evaluating petition requirements.
Judge Darrow has a bad record on ballot access. She had previously upheld the same 5% petition for U.S. House in Gill v Scholz.
One ruling against the First Amendment right to ballot access could charitably be considered an error. Two or more is likely a partisan conflict of interest.
Is she a demonRat? If nonpartisan, demonRodent appointee or known demonicommieratfink gang ass-ociate?
FAILURE IN 1968 TO BRING UP 1954 BROWN V BD OF ED —
SEPARATE IS N-O-T EQUAL.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/tennessee-republicans-set-remove-requirement-132014291.html
TN G –NOOO NOTICE REQUIREMENT ABOUT NEW POLLING PLACES
WHICH EX-SLAVE STATE IS MOST LIKE 1859 ???
Sara Darrow is married to Clarence “Mike” Darrow an Illinois circuit court judge. His great-grandfather is a distant cousin of the Clarence Darrow who represented Eugene V. Debs in the Pullman Strike trial.
@AZ,
The KKK was founded in the law office of Thomas Jones in Pulaski, Tennessee; so I guess Michigan is most like 1859.
Both Thomas Joneses have been dead for year’s.
WHICH EX-SLAVE STATE IS MOST LIKE 1859 ??? IT’S A CLOSE CALL BETWEEN NEW JERSEY AND DELAWARE, BUT ONLY BECAUSE D.C. IS NOT A STATE !!! MARYLAND IS ALSO A TOP CONTENDER, PARTICULARLY THE DC AND BULLETMORE METRO AREA’S !!! THE INSIDE THE BELTWAY PARTS OF VIRGINIA ARE CERTAINLY UP THERE !!!
Jim Riley
So, she’s a Demo(ni)cRat?
nAZi 666 SPAMBOT AND FAKE NEWS. 2 CRAPPY THINGS THAT ARE EVEN CRAPPIER TOGETHER !!!
Donald Trump is the man, a lifelong member of the Klan! If Klansman Trump can’t save America, then I bet nobody can!
https://www.loc.gov/item/llsl-v44/
us code 1926 — us laws in 1878-1925 added to olde 1878 revised statutes
IN 1969 THOMAS W. JONES OF MESHUGENNEH CORNERED ALL THE BROWN ACID AT THE WOODSTOCK FESTIVAL !!! HE ONLY REGRETTED NOT DOING IT IN 1968 !!!
BY 1954, THOMAS W. JONES OF THE MESHUGGENEH STATE, FAMOUS SURVIVOR OF A BOTCHED ILLEGAL PARTIAL BIRTH COAT HANGAR ABORTION THAT RESULTED IN A MOST UNFORTUNATE SURGICALLY IRREVERSIBLE CASE OF ANAL CRANIAL INVERSION, WAS ALREADY BORED OF EDUCATION !!!
HE WAS TREATED COUNTLESS TIMES WITH ELECTROSHOCK THERAPY, MULTIPLE FRONTAL LOBOTOMIES, POWERFUL HALLUCINOGENIC DRUGS, ETC, BUT NOTHING HELPED !!!
NOT MODERN MEDICINE…NOT SATANIC BLACK MASS WITCHCRAFT ORGIES AT APARTMENT 5 AT THE TOTSEP RESORT IN PUERTO RICO…NOTHING !!!
Was Thomas Jones gay?
Who says he was gay?
He was gay! He was a trantifa!
How many jerkass fascist trump troll 0.00666 IQ moron posters on BAN – esp the same idiot with many fake names with a Jones derangement syndrome [JDS} ???
None of that makes any sense.
As you might expect from AZ 666 SPAMBOT.
FOR STARTERS fascist Trump does not compute. Fascists are left wing, like Beijing Biden, Cumala Herass, Tampon Tim and other leftard Demon Rats.
Thomas W. Jones RIP, DEMON RAPED DEMO REP, and the programmer of the NazI 666 spambot are the only jerkass low iq trolls on BAN and the only ones known to spam fascist left wing fake news propaganda as well as use multiple fake names.
Like all leftist scum, they accuse others of their own misdeeds.
Such as having a derangement syndrome.
In reality, they have one about Liberator Trump.
Accurate facts about the fascist troll programmer of the AZ 666, its spambot which emulates a total complete moron constantly, and dead man Jones are not a derangement syndrome. They are just truthful facts.
In other words, the AZ SPAMBOT inverts reality as usual