On December 2, the U.S. Supreme Court revealed it will not hear Nader v Federal Election Commission, 13-556. The issue was whether Nader had standing to sue the FEC for its failure to enforce campaign finance laws. Specifically, the Democratic National Committee and its allies did not report their expenses in attempting to keep Nader off the ballot in 2004 in two dozen states, and the FEC did virtually nothing to enforce the law. The U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Nader doesn’t even have standing to sue the FEC.

This is the last chapter in the many lawsuits filed around Nader’s 2004 ballot access legal fights.

On December 2, the U.S. Supreme Court revealed that it will not hear Virginia’s appeal in Judd v Libertarian Party of Virginia, 13-231. This is the case on the constitutionality of Virginia’s ban on out-of-state circulators.

Because the Libertarian Party has now definitely won this case, it is likely that a bill will be introduced in the 2014 Virginia legislature to repeal the ban. It is hoped that the Libertarian Party will be able to persuade the legislature to make other ballot access improvements in the same bill. The obvious flaw with Virginia’s ballot access laws is that the vote test for party status is excessive. The median vote test of the 50 states is 2%, but Virginia’s is 10%.

In 2011, the Wisconsin legislature passed one of the nation’s most severe laws concerning photo-ID for voters who vote at the polls. The new law has not been enforced yet and has been in litigation since 2011. The first federal lawsuit filed against the law, Frank v Walker, eastern district 2:11cv-1128, had a trial November 4-8, 2013, and post-trial briefs are due December 20. The case is before U.S. District Court Judge Lynn Adelman, a Clinton appointee. Unlike some other cases, this case has over a dozen voter-plaintiffs who make a compelling case that they cannot obtain the type of ID that the law requires, at least without a substantial cost and effort. Here is a New York Times editorial about the lawsuit. Here is a copy of the Complaint. Thanks to ElectionLaw@Moritz for that link.