Former Congressman Steven Driehaus Won’t Help Ohio Defend its Law Criminalizing Making a False Statement in a Campaign Ad

Posted on by November 15, 2013
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The U.S. Supreme Court is currently considering whether or not to hear Susan B. Anthony List v Driehaus, 13-193, a case over whether Ohio’s law criminalizing making a false statement in a campaign ad violates the First Amendment. The case began after Congressman Stephen Driehaus sued the Susan B. Anthony List because it claimed he voted to force taxpayers to pay for abortions. Driehaus, a Democrat from Cincinnati, had been defeated for re-election in 2010 and his lawsuit was filed after he had lost. His lawsuit depended on the Ohio law against false campaign ads.

Eventually Driehaus dropped his attempt to win damages against the Susan B. Anthony List, but in the meantime the Susan B. Anthony List took the initiative in the lawsuit to argue that the Ohio law violates the First Amendment. The lower courts refused to rule on the Ohio law, so the Susan B. Anthony List asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case. The U.S. Supreme Court, showing some interest in the case, then asked the state and also Driehaus to respond. But on November 5, attorneys for Driehaus notified the Court that Driehaus will not submit a response. Therefore, it will be up to the state of Ohio to handle the defense of its law, without any help from Driehaus.

Hawaii Democratic Party Loses Primary Election Lawsuit

Posted on by November 15, 2013
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On November 14, U.S. District Court Judge J. Michael Seabright ruled against the Hawaii Democratic Party, in Democratic Party of Hawaii v Nago. This is the case in which the Hawaii Democratic Party sued to obtain a closed primary for itself. The decision says that the Democratic Party might win a future lawsuit, but that such future lawsuit would need to provide evidence that the open primary harms the Democratic Party. The Hawaii Democratic Party had argued that an open primary is facially unconstitutional, which means that it is always unconstitutional, as applied to any party. The decision points out that some Hawaii political parties might want to keep an open primary. The decision is 36 pages.

The decision also points out that when California’s blanket primary was held unconstitutional, and when Idaho’s open primary was held unconstitutional as to the Republican Party, those cases were as applied challenges, and they depended on evidence that the parties who filed the lawsuits were being harmed. The decision says, on page 31, “This court cannot consider the Democratic Party of Hawaii’s challenge without analyzing proof of a burden.”

Fifteen Libertarian Party Members Were Elected to Public Office on November 5, 2013

Posted on by November 15, 2013
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The Libertarian Party has this compilation of election results for party members who ran for public elective office on November 5, 2013. The compilation also has results for 2013 elections earlier than November 5 at the top. The November 2013 results include fifteen members who were elected, and one who is in a run-off in December.

Article Describes Minor Party Doings in Minnesota

Posted on by November 14, 2013
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This article describes what the Minnesota Independence Party, and the Minnesota Libertarian Party, are doing to get ready for the 2014 election. Minnesota is the only state in which parties that are not ballot-qualified can sometimes get public funding, and the article mentions that the Libertarian Party and the Grassroots Party do qualify for some public funding. They have that status because they got over 1% for a statewide office in 2012. For the Libertarians, Gary Johnson got 1.20% for President. The Grassroots Party in 2012 polled 1.07% for Tim Davis for U.S. Senate.

Pennsylvania Ballot Access Bill Gains Another Co-Sponsor

Posted on by November 14, 2013
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On November 13, Pennsylvania State Senator Kim Ward (R-Greensburg) said she will co-sponsor SB 195, the ballot access reform bill. The Pennsylvania Ballot Access Coalition has been working diligently to increase the number of co-sponsors for this bill. When it was introduced in January 2013 it had five sponsors.

The bill lowers the number of signatures for independent candidates to match the number needed for Democrats and Republicans to get on primary ballots. For minor parties, it says a party is qualified, and entitled to nominate by convention, if it has approximately 4,000 registered members. If the bill were enacted, that would put the Constitution, Green, and Libertarian Parties on the general election ballot with no petitioning. That part of the bill is modeled on Delaware’s law.