On August 30, U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Bataillon issued opinions in two closely related cases, Bernbeck v Gale, 4:10cv-3001, and Citizens in Charge v Gale, 4:09cv-3255. In the Citizens in Charge case, the judge struck down the Nebraska law that bans out-of-state circulators, but upheld a state law that says all petitions must carry in red ink and large font, “This petition is circulated by a paid circulator.” Of course, if the circulator is not being paid, the petition need not carry that message. UPDATE: here is the AP story on the decision.
In the Bernbeck case, the Judge upheld the state’s ban on paying circulators on a per-signature basis. However, the state law does not ban paying bonuses to circulators who have high productivity. Also in the Bernbeck case, the Judge struck down a law saying the sponsor of a local initiative must be a resident of that locality. He upheld a law making it illegal for people under age 18 to circulate petitions. Here is the Bernbeck decision. Here is the Citizens in Charge decision, the one that strikes down the ban on out-of-state circulators.
The decision striking down the ban on out-of-state circulators is very significant, because in 2001 the 8th circuit had upheld North Dakota’s ban on out-of-state circulators, and Nebraska is in the 8th circuit. Judge Battaillon said the 8th circuit case is not controlling because in that case, the plaintiffs did not present any evidence about how burdensome the ban is. In the recent Nebraska case, the plaintiffs did present such evidence. Thanks to Kent Bernbeck for this news and for one of the links, and thanks to Paul Jacob for the other link.
