Law Professor Edward B. Foley has this dispassionate and well-reasoned column about the January 21 Supreme Court opinion, Citizens United v FEC. Foley is at Moritz College of Law in Ohio, and is an expert in election law.
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On January 22, the Democratic and Republican Parties of Washington state each filed amended complaints in the case challenging the constitutionality of the “top-two open primary” that the voters passed in 2004. The case is Washington State Republican Party v State, cv05-927. Here is the Republican Party’s amended complaint. Here is the Democratic Party’s amended complaint. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the latter.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in March 2008, in this very same lawsuit, that “top-two” is not unconstitutional on its face, as to the freedom of association argument, but said it might be unconstitutional as applied. Newspapers in California and Washington have failed to communicate this information to their readers. They constantly say that the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the law.
On January 22, the Democratic and Republican Parties of Washington state each filed amended complaints in the case challenging the constitutionality of the “top-two open primary” that the voters passed in 2004. The case is Washington State Republican Party v State, cv05-927. Here is the Republican Party’s amended complaint. Here is the Democratic Party’s amended complaint. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the latter.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in March 2008, in this very same lawsuit, that “top-two” is not unconstitutional on its face, as to the freedom of association argument, but said it might be unconstitutional as applied. Newspapers in California and Washington have failed to communicate this information to their readers. They constantly say that the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the law.
On January 20, a group that wished to qualify a local ballot initiative in Fort Myers, Florida, asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear its case, Citizens for Police Accountability Political Committee v Browning, 09-861. The issue is Florida’s discriminatory law concerning polling places on election day. Florida law says exit pollsters may talk to voters on their way out of the polling place location, within 25 feet of the entrance to the polling place. But petitions cannot talk to votes on their way out of the polling place location, any closer than 100 feet. UPDATE: here is the cert petition filed by Citizens for Police Accountability.
Petitioning at the polls is very successful, because virtually everyone leaving the polling place is a registered voter. The U.S. District Court, on August 22, 2008, had granted an injunction against the Florida law for petitioners. But the U.S. Court of Appeals had reversed that on June 25, 2009. The 11th circuit said it would bother voters to be approached by circulators, but didn’t really explain why exit pollsters are treated better than petitioners. Neither exit pollsters nor petitioners wish to talk to voters on their way in to vote. They only wish to approach people leaving. Exit pollsters typically ask voters to fill out a questionaire that contains between 20 and 30 questions. That takes longer, and is more intrusive, than a petition circulator asking a voter to sign his or her name and address to a petition. Thanks to Paul Jacob for this news.
The Socialist Equality Party has this commentary on the January 21 U.S. Supreme Court decision Citizens United v FEC. The commentary points out that the U.S. Supreme Court now appears hypocritical, because it has not protected the First Amendment in its ballot access precedents. The criticism is valid. The Court has not struck down any ballot access law since 1992. Two particular justices, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, have never voted to strike down any state ballot access law, even though they each have been on the court for more than 17 years. The Court has refused cert petitions on ballot access constitutional changes in the last fifteen years from Alabama, Arizona, California, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Texas.