The U.S. Supreme Court will consider whether to hear Upstate Jobs Party v Kosinski, 24-503, at its February 21 conference. This is the case challenging the New York campaign finance law, that says individuals can give more campaign donations to the nominee of a qualified party than to an independent candidate or the nominee of an unqualified party.
If the Court takes this case, it will be the first time it has accepted a cert petition filed solely by a minor party or an independent candidate since 1991, with the exception of a 1997 case in which a Georgia Libertarian Party nominee challenged the Georgia law that required candidates for state and local office to take a drug test. Chandler v Miller. That really wasn’t an election law case; it was chacterized as a Fourth Amendment case. The Fourth Amendment bars unreasonable searches.