On September 26, President Trump nominated Judge Amy Coney Barrett of the Seventh Circuit for the U.S. Supreme Court.
It appears she has only written one ballot access decision. In 2019 she wrote the opinion in Acevedo v Cook County Electoral Board, 18-2979. She upheld requiring a candidate for the Democratic nomination for Sheriff of Cook County to collect 8,236 signatures. The plaintiff-Candidate had sued, arguing that the state could not constitutionally require more than 5,000 signatures, because Democratic candidates running for statewide office in primaries never need more than 5,000 signatures.
The U.S. Supreme Court had ruled unanimously in 1979 that Illinois could not require more signatures for a minor party candidate for Mayor of Chicago (which was a partisan office back then) to collect 42,000 signatures, because the statewide minor party petition was only 25,000. The Supreme Court 1979 decision said it was obvious that if 25,000 is enough to keep the statewide general election ballot uncrowded, then surely there was no logical reason for Illinois to require more than 25,000 for Mayor of Chicago.
The 2019 Barrett decision fails to follow precedent and logic.
