On September 20, U.S. District Court Judge William J. Haynes, a Clinton appointee, struck down Tennessee’s laws on how a previously unqualified party can get on the ballot.  Libertarian Party of Tennessee v Goins, 3:08-cv-00063.  The case had been filed by the Libertarian, Constitution and Green Parties of Tennessee back on January 23, 2008.  The decision says that the combination of the early petition deadline, the high number of signatures, and the wording on the petition saying the signers are members, taken together, is too severe.

Tennessee’s law has existed since 1972, and in all the years it has existed, it has never been used.  It requires a petition of 2.5% of the last gubernatorial vote, due four months before the August primary.  Parties that have tried and failed to qualify in Tennessee have been the Populist Party of the 1980’s, the Reform Party, the Constitution Party, and the Green Party.  The Libertarian Party has never actually tried to qualify because the law is so harsh.  Currently, it requires 45,464 signatures.

The decision will have no impact on the 2010 election because the parties had not asked for injunctive relief.  Tennessee is in the 6th circuit, and the decision depends partly on the 2006 decision of the Sixth Circuit that had struck down the Ohio ballot access law for new parties.  If the state does not appeal, the legislature in 2011 will probably pass a better law.  The Tennessee and Ohio laws are very similar; both states require newly-qualifying parties to hold a primary, which is why the deadlines for a new party are so early.  Most states, by contrast, provide that newly-qualifying parties may nominate by convention, which makes it possible for those states to have a later petition deadline.

The September 20 issue of The Militant, weekly newspaper of the Socialist Workers Party, has this editorial, condemning the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision that finds no privacy rights for people who sign petitions to place questions, candidates, or parties on the ballot.  The decision, Doe v Reed, had been issued on June 24.  The decision does say that if a group can show that it has a special need for privacy, it can make that argument and may possibly win an exception.

The Socialist Workers Party itself won a decision in 1982 in the U.S. Supreme Court, giving it protection against revealing the names and addresses of people who contribute money to the party.  The decision also says the party need not report how it spends its campaign contributions, because if it did so, that would reveal the names and addresses of its employees.

The Socialist Workers Party chose not to submit an amicus curiae brief in Doe v Reed.

Natasha Pettigrew, age 30, was struck by a car while bicycling on Sunday, September 19.  She died from her injuries shortly aftewards.  See this story.  She was the Green Party nominee for U.S. Senate in Maryland.  She had been training for a triathlon.