North Carolina has three constitutional ballot access lawsuits pending. One is in the State Supreme Court, and concerns the rules for new and previously unqualified parties to get on the ballot, as well as other issues such as the ability of voters to register into unqualified parties, and whether a party should be able to get on the ballot in just part of the state if it isn’t on statewide. This case is 5 years old.

Also, there is the case filed in 2008 against the independent candidate procedures for U.S. House, which are so strict, they have never been used, in the 109 years North Carolina has had government-printed ballots.

Finally, there is the February 2010 lawsuit, which raises an issue that has not been raised anywhere in the U.S. in a lawsuit, until now. This new case argues that if an independent candidate ran in the immediately preceding election, and now is running again, that same candidate should not need a second petition, if his or her vote total in the earlier election was significant. See this story about that lawsuit. The story, toward the end, erroneously says Brody is one of only two independent candidates who has ever been on a government-printed ballot. That is not correct. Ross Perot got on as an independent presidential candidate, and about 7 or 8 independent candidates for the legislature have been on in the last twenty years.

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear Christian Legal Society v Martinez, 08-1371, on April 19. This is not an election law case, but it is a freedom of association case, so it will likely impact the law on political parties. The issue is whether a public law school can require student groups to admit any student (at that school) as a member.

The amici briefs are all in now, and they are overwhelmingly against the law school. There are 22 amici briefs on the side of the Christian Legal Society, and none on the side of the school. There is also one brief in support of neither side. To see these briefs, use this American Bar Association web page link.