On November 30, the 6th circuit heard oral argument in Citizens for Tax Reform v Deters, 07-3031. The issue is Ohio’s law, banning paying initiative and candidate petitioners on a per signature basis. The hearing seemed to go well. The three judges were Julia Gibbons and David McKeague (Bush Jr. appointees) and Eugene Siler (a Bush Sr. appointee).

Judge McKeague was especially interested in the aspect of the Ohio law that even seems to make it impossible to pay high producers a bonus. The law is somewhat ambiguous, and the attorney for the state didn’t seem willing to help the judges resolve the ambiguity.

The law had been declared unconstitutional in the U.S. District Court. The state says if it loses again, it will ask for U.S. Supreme Court review. A decision will probably come out in the first half of 2008, although occasionally these decisions take as long as a year from the hearing date.