On May 29, Unity08 filed its main brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia, against the Federal Election Commission’s ruling in 2006 that no one could give Unity08 more than $5,000. The FEC treated Unity08 as a “political committee”, and individuals may not give more than $5,000 per calendar year to a “political committee”. However, a “political committee” has always been understood to be a committee that backs a particular candidate for federal office. Here is the brief. The case is Unity08 v FEC, 08-5526.

If the FEC had made a similar ruling in 1995, then Ross Perot would not have been able to create the Reform Party in September 1995. Like Unity08, the Reform Party didn’t have any particular candidate for president or any federal office when it was founded.

Unity08 was formed to qualify itself as a political party in as many states as possible, and then after it had ballot position in those states, it intended to choose a presidential nominee, via an on-line “presidential primary”. Anyone who had joined Unity08 would have been eligible to vote in that on-line primary. Unity08 no longer carries on any activity, except that it is still fighting to win this lawsuit, for the sake of future attempts to create new political parties. The law firm of Latham & Watkins, and the law firm of Macht, Shapiro, Arato & Isserles, are handling the lawsuit.

Last year, Bob Barr (Libertarian Party presidential nominee) and his candidates for presidential elector filed a federal lawsuit against Oklahoma’s procedure for an independent presidential candidate to get on the ballot, a petition signed by 3% of the last presidential vote (in 2008, that was 43,913 valid signatures). The case went to U.S. District Court David Russell, who had upheld that same law both in 1996 and 2000, and who upheld it again. The Barr candidates for presidential elector have decided not to appeal to the 10th circuit, in the hopes that a complete lack of any ballot access litigation will make it more likely that the Oklahoma legislature will reform the ballot access laws.

Lobbyists have noted that when state legislators hear that a constitutional lawsuit is pending, their tendency is to refuse to support legislation on the same subject, saying they would rather wait for the court decision. HB 1072, easing the ballot access laws for new and previously unqualified parties, did pass both houses of the Oklahoma legislature this year, although final passage must wait for 2010 since the conference committee did not pass the bill this year.

Alan Johnson, Britain’s cabinet minister for Health in the Labour Government, has this op-ed in the May 25 London Times, arguing for proportional representation for Britain. Some people predict that Johnson will be the next Labour Party leader.