On May 29, the Coalition for Free & Equal Elections (COFOE) filed an amicus curiae brief in Hall v Merrill, 18-1362. This is the Alabama ballot access case pending in the U.S. Supreme Court. The original issue in U.S. District Court was the constitutionality of Alabama’s 3% petition, as applied to special elections, when the normal petitioning period is much shorter. The plaintiff, James Hall, was an independent candidate for a special U.S. House election in 2013.

He won in U.S. District Court, after the election was over. The U.S. District Court said it was unconstitutional for him to be required to collect 5,938 valid signatures in a short time period. Then the state appealed, and the Eleventh Circuit ruled 2-1 that the case should not have been heard after the election was over, because it was moot. Therefore the Eleventh Circuit erased the U.S. District Court win, leaving the issue undecided. Hall now asks the U.S. Supreme Court to rule that the Eleventh Circuit was wrong about mootness.

COFOE was formed in 1985. It gets all of its income from contributions, generally from people who subscribe to Ballot Access News. COFOE appreciates all the people who have contributed through the years, which makes possible the filing of the amicus brief.

Alabama’s brief, which will presumably ask the U.S. Supreme Court not to take the case, is due on July 1.