On March 11, California Superior Court Judge Timothy M. Frawley issued this 6-page opinion in Fuller v Bowen, 34-2010-80000452. He explains why he ruled from the bench yesterday that Tom Berryhill should be on this year’s Republican primary ballot for State Senate, 14th district.

This is a very thoughtful and useful opinion. Judge Frawley agrees that he has jurisdiction to decide the issue of whether someone should be on the ballot as a candidate for the legislature, even though the candidate has not been a resident of the district for a year and even though the state Constitution says such candidates are not eligible. Attorneys for the candidate had tried to argue that the court didn’t have jurisdiction to decide the case, that only the legislature can judge the qualifications of its members.

According to this decision, the strict scrutiny test still apples to whether anyone has a right, under the U.S. Constitution, to be a candidate. The decision acknowledges that the U.S. Supreme Court said in Clements v Fashing, in 1982, that there is no federal constitutional right to be a candidate. But he said that decision was just a plurality decision. Justice Rehnquist’s decision only commanded four votes, Justice Brennan’s dissent commanded four votes, and the Justice John Paul Stevens wrote his own opinion. Clements v Fashing was a harmful decision, and it is good to see a lower court finding that it is not binding. Thanks to Erin Peth for the link to the decision.

On March 11, Ross Mirkarimi told the press that he has changed his voter registration from “Green” to “Democratic”. See this story from the San Francisco Bay Guardian. Mirkarimi had been the Green Party’s only county supervisor in California, although the party still has some California city councilmembers, and has Mayor of Richmond, California, is a registered Green. Thanks to Irv Sutley for this news.

On March 9, a Michigan State Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that the list of which voters chose a Democratic presidential primary ballot, or a Republican presidential primary ballot, in the January 2008 presidential primaries, is public information. Practical Political Consulting v Land, 291176. Here is the decision. The majority opinion is 19 pages and the dissent is 19 pages. Thanks to John Anthony La Pietra for the link.

The 2008 Democratic presidential primary results had been: Clinton 328,309; uncommitted 238,168; Kucinich 21,715; Dodd 3,845; Gravel 2,361. Most observers believe that many Democrats chose a Republican primary ballot, because the Democratic ballot did not carry the names of Barack Obama or John Edwards. They had boycotted the Democratic primary because the national party rules didn’t permit the party to recognize a primary that early, in a state other than New Hampshire.

The Republican primary results had been: Romney 338,316; McCain 257,985; Huckabee 139,764; Paul 54,475; Thompson 32,159; Giuliani 24,725; uncommitted 18,118; Hunter 2,819; Tancredo 457; Brownback 351.

If the state doesn’t appeal to the State Supreme Court, the lists will become public. Chances are, some Michigan Democratic Party office-holders voted in the Republican Party’s presidential primary, and they won’t especially enjoy having that become publicly known.