On September 26, the Sixth Circuit refused to rehear Jolivette v Husted, although the vote was not unanimous. This is the case over whether an independent candidate for the legislature, who had enough valid signatures, should be kept off the ballot on the grounds that he had too close an association with the Republican Party. The Ohio law only bans “sore losers”, not candidates who merely associated with a party. But the tradition has taken hold in Ohio that the “sore loser” law should be interpreted to ban more behavior than the behavior mentioned specifically by the law.

Greg Jolivette circulated a petition last year to be on the Republican primary ballot, but he withdrew it and never ran in the Republican primary. Nevertheless, that action has now been judged to be the same action as actually running in a primary and losing that primary. The case is Jolivette v Husted, 12-3998.