On August 23, U.S. District Court Henry E. Hudson, a Bush Jr. appointee, refused to grant injunctive relief against a Virginia law that requires circulators for candidates to Congress to live in the district. Lux v Rodrigues, 3:10-cv-00482, eastern district.
The judge seemed sympathetic, but said he is bound by a 1985 decision of the 4th circuit, Libertarian Party of Virginia v State Board of Elections. That case was really about the requirement that statewide petitions needed signatures in each U.S. House district, a requirement that no longer exists. But in the course of upholding the requirement that signatures needed to come from each U.S. House district in the state for a statewide petition, the panel also seemed to approve of the law that does not permit circulators to work outside their home congressional district.
That 1985 case, and the 2010 case, relied on “rational basis” scrutiny. But in 1999 the U.S. Supreme Court struck down laws requiring circulators to be registered voters, and used strict scrutiny, so there is an easy argument to be made to the 4th circuit in the Lux case that the U.S. District Court decision should be reversed. Lux is expected to appeal quickly. He is an independent candidate for U.S. House in the 7th district, and whether he gets on the ballot depends on his appeal.