On March 24, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled unanimously that Robert Waters should be restored to the Libertarian Party’s primary ballot. He is a candidate for the party’s nomination for State Representative, 67th district.

The Warren County Board of Elections had disqualified him because his petition to get on the primary ballot failed to fill in the blank, asking for the date of the primary election. However, his petition did carry the information that the office he is seeking has a term that begins in January 2011. The case is State ex rel Eshleman v Fornshell, 2010-0438. The Court said, “No vital public purpose or public interest is served by rejecting his petition.”

On March 24, a U.S. District Court in Eugene, Oregon, upheld Oregon laws that require initiative circulators who are being paid to complete a class about petitioning rules. The decision also upholds a ban on anyone working as a paid circulator who has ever been convicted of fraud, forgery or identity theft. Finally, the decision upholds a law requiring an organization that pays circulators to produce payroll records. The case is Walker v State of Oregon and Kate Brown, 08-06135. Here is the 29-page decision.

By an odd coincidence, two court hearings involving the Constitution Party will be held at exactly the same hour on the same day this week, one in Nevada and one in California.

The Nevada case is Fasano v Ashjian, in Nevada state district court in Carson City, 10-oc-00118. The hearing is at 9 a.m. on Friday, March 26. The Independent American Party (Nevada state affiliate of the Constitution Party) filed this lawsuit to force the Secretary of State to remove the Tea Party’s candidate for U.S. Senate. The case alleges that the Tea Party candidate should have changed his registration from “Republican” to “Tea Party” no later than March 1, but that he didn’t change until March 2.

The California case is King v Robinson, in California Superior Court, Solano County, FCS034452. The hearing is also at 9 a.m. on Friday, March 26. This case was filed March 16, 2009, to obtain a decision as to the identity of the legal officers of the American Independent Party of California. The case has been delayed because the defendant has evaded being served. Plaintiffs will argue that defendants have been served, and also that defendants improperly failed to appear at a recent deposition. The plaintiffs are associated with the Constitution Party nationally. The defendants are associated with the people who supported Alan Keyes for President in 2008.