On May 4, the 7th circuit issued this 3-page opinion in Stone v Neal, 11-1085. This case challenges the requirement that all candidates for non-partisan citywide office in Chicago need 12,500 valid signatures to get on the ballot.
The Court said there is nothing for it to do in this case at this time, because the election is over, and therefore the appeal of the District Court’s order, denying injunctive relief, is moot. The case now returns to the U.S. District Court for a decision on the constitutionality of the requirement. The tone of the 7th circuit’s order is ever so slightly favorable to the candidates who brought the lawsuit. The first paragraph highlights that Chicago’s ballot access requirements seem sharply at variance with the ballot access laws of other large U.S. cities.
The courts are BRAIN DEAD about elections.
IF the ballot access law was/is UN-constitutional, THEN the election is UN-constitutional and has to be redone.
BUT the courts let UN-constitutional election stuff happen to be allegedly repaired at the next election.
Apparently constitutional rights do NOT count in election law cases.
Ballot access is obviously directly connected with having ANY election — one of the few things that allows for the alleged claim of Democracy in the U.S.A.
Also there should be $$$ DAMAGES in ALL cases having UN-constitutional stuff happen.
This stuff is NOT atomic physics – except for MORON judges.
In this case the lawyers for the plaintiffs were also brain dead – incomplete remedy asked for in the complaint.
Must always claim that the plaintiff will want to do something in the NEXT election – vote, be a candidate, etc.
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