On April 19, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene asked the Eleventh Circuit to reverse the order of the U.S. District court in Greene v Raffensperger. This is the case on whether the state of Georgia should be permitted to hold an administration hearing on whether she meets the constitutional qualifications to run for Congress.
On April 18, a New Jersey state trial court restored a Democratic mayoral candidate to the primary ballot in Eatontown, even though the candidate’s primary petition was a multi-candidate petition that also included candidates running in the same primary for city council. See this story.
According to this story, New York Democratic Party state chair Jay Jacobs wants to support a petition drive for the “Fair Deal Party”, which would cross-endorse likely Democratic gubernatorial nominee Kathy Hochul. The story also says that a Republican candidate for Governor, Harry Wilson, wants to launch a petition drive to create the UniteNY Party.
April 19 is the first day in which petitioning for the general election ballot is allowed. May 31 is the petition deadline. The story says that the first day to petition is April 24. Thanks to Michael Drucker for the link.
On April 18, U.S. District Court Judge Amy Totenberg refused to enjoin the state of Georgia from adjudicating whether Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene meets the Qualifications to be in Congress. Greene v Raffensperger, n.d., 1:22cv-1294. The Congresswoman is being challenged on the basis that she violated section three of the 14th amendment. Here is the 73-page opinion.
The opinion says Greene does have standing. It also says the federal court does have the authority to hear her case (the state had argued that the federal court must abstain).
But the decision says that the burden on Greene, by having to be subjected to a state administrative challenge, is not severe. It says there is no reason to expect that the process won’t be fair. The opinion also says that states do have a role in adjudicating qualifications.
The decision notes that recently, a U.S. District Court in North Carolina had ruled (in a similar case involving Congressman Madison Cawthorn) that when congress passed an amnesty bill in 1872, that also covered all future cases. The Georgia decision says that the North Carolina court ruling is mistaken. The North Carolina case is currently being appealed in the Fourth Circuit.
Greene’s name will be on the Georgia primary ballot, but if the state’s challenge process determines that she is not eligible, the voters for her won’t be counted.
On April 18, the Virginia voters who argued that members of the lower house of the legislature cannot serve until January 2024 filed this brief in Goldman v Brink, e.d., 3:21cv-420.
Members of the lower house of the Virginia legislature were elected in November 2021, from districts that were drawn using the 2010 census. Normally they would serve two-year terms, but some voters filed that it violates the U.S. Constitution to retain the old districts that long after the new 2020 census.
