The 7th circuit held oral arguments on September 25 in Stevo v Keith, 08-3218. The issue is the Illinois law which requires independent candidates for the U.S. House to collect over 10,000 signatures in some election years, but exactly 5,000 in other election years. The three judges were Richard Posner and Joel Flaum (Reagan appointees) and Richard Cudahy (a Carter appointee). The plaintiff, Allan Stevo, submitted 7,200 signatures, which would have been enough in 2002 or 2012, but were not enough this year. A decision is expected very soon. Almost 50 supporters of Stevo attended the hearing.

On September 25, a U.S. District Court in Mississippi ruled against Brian Moore, in the lawsuit to place him on the ballot as the presidential nominee of the Natural Law Party. The issue was whether the state should have accepted his paperwork, which was submitted on the deadline at 5:10 p.m. He plans to appeal. Thanks to Darcy Richardson for this news. The judge ruled orally from the bench; nothing is in writing yet.

September 25 is a day with three important ballot access hearings. The 10th circuit will hear Yes on Term Limits v Savage, to determine if the U.S. Constitution permits states to criminalize out-of-state initiative petition circulators. The 7th circuit will hear Stevo v Keith, over whether there is any state interest in requiring independent candidates for U.S. House to get over 10,000 valid signatures in some election years, but exactly 5,000 signatures in other election years. And a U.S. District Court in Jackson, Mississippi, will decide whether Brian Moore’s paperwork (to be on the ballot for president) should have been accepted. He submitted the paperwork at 5:10 p.m. The election law only specifies the day of the deadline, not the hour (many other states specify some particular hour on the deadline day). But Mississippi said he was ten minutes too late.