On April 13, the Third Circuit heard oral arguments in Constitution Party of Pennsylvania v Aichele, 15-3046. The issue is the unique Pennsylvania system that puts petitioning groups at risk of court costs of up to $110,000 if they submit a petition that doesn’t have enough valid signatures. Last year a U.S. District Court had invalidated the system. On the appeal, the state did not actually disagree with the substance of the lower court decision; instead it argued that the decision should be overturned because the plaintiffs had sued the wrong Defendants. However, the three judges at the Third Circuit oral argument seemed to disagree with the state about that.
There was much discussion about what the remedy should be for the 2016 election. The attorney for the three parties that filed the case (Constitution, Green, and Libertarian) mentioned that the legislature has had a ballot access bill pending. SB 495, since last year. He said the legislature could pass that bill and fill the gap in the law. He mentioned that the Libertarian Party has over 45,000 registered members in Pennsylvania, and surely that shows that party has already shown a modicum of support and should not be required to submit a 2016 petition. The pending bill also uses registration instead of petitions to determine which parties should be on the ballot. The hearing lasted 30 minutes and supporters of the lawsuit were in the audience.