On August 15, Rocky De La Fuente asked the U.S. District Court in San Diego (the Southern District) to retain his presidential tax returns-ballot lawsuit in that city. The state of California is trying to persuade the judge in San Diego to transfer De La Fuente’s case to the U.S. District Court in Sacramento (the eastern District). See the 15-page brief.

De La Fuente points out that his lawsuit was the first lawsuit to be filed against the new California law that requires presidential primary candidates to reveal their income tax returns. Therefore, he argues, if the five cases are to be consolidated, they ought to be consolidated in San Diego, not Sacramento. Furthermore, he points out that De La Fuente and his tax account both live in San Diego, and both are expected to be witnesses, and it is therefore far cheaper for the witnesses to hold the trial in San Diego, not Sacramento, which is 550 miles away.

Also, De La Fuente points out that the state itself (in its brief in the State Supreme Court) suggests that only a presidential candidate has standing to challenge the California law. Of the four cases pending in federal court in Sacramento, only the one filed by President Trump includes a presidential candidate. This suggests that the two federal cases filed by De La Fuente and Trump are the two strongest federal cases, and it would be arbitrary to consolidate these two cases in Sacramento, versus San Diego.

Finally, De La Fuente points out that all these lawsuits are time-sensitive, and already his San Diego case is moving along faster than any of the Sacramento cases.