On October 19, three individuals filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., seeking to overturn a 1940 federal law that makes it illegal for anyone who holds a contract with the federal government from contributing any money whatsoever to any party or any candidate for federal office. Here is the 10-page complaint in Wagner v Federal Election Commission, 11-cv-1841.

One of the plaintiffs, Wendy Wagner, is a law professor who currently has a contract to prepare a report on potential improvements in the use of science by administrative agencies. Another plaintiff, Lawrence M. E. Brown, has a contract to perform personal services as a human resources advisor to the U.S. Agency for International Development. The third plaintiff, Jan W. Miller, has a contract to provide personal services consulting to the same agency, USAID. They each would like to make contributions to candidates for federal office, or to political committees or political parties. The D.C. branch of the American Civil Liberties Union represents the plaintiffs. The complaint points out that federal employees are permitted to make contributions. The case was assigned to Judge James E. Boasberg, an Obama appointee. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.

In Virginia, and Indiana, candidates who petition for a spot on a general election ballot have their signatures checked for validity, by government elections officials. But candidates seeking a spot on a partisan primary ballot are treated more leniently. Their petitions are given to their own political party, and political party officials merely look at the petitions to see if, on the surface, they contain enough signatures.

Michael Osborne, an independent candidate in this year’s legislative election in Virginia, is upset about the disparity, and is threatening to bring a lawsuit, although it is far too late for that to effect the November 8, 2011 ballot. In any event, the only possible lawsuit would be one that alleges the disparity is unconstitutional. No Virginia statute has been broken; the statutes provide for different treatment for the different types of petition. See this story.

Americans Elect’s webpage regularly updates the number of signatures that have been collected on ballot access petitions. The current total, posted early this week, is 1,844,938, which is higher by 15,674 signatures than the total posted two weeks ago.