On June 20, the 3rd circuit ruled that a government employee in a non-policy making position cannot be fired, just because she is apolitical and doesn’t support the party in power. The case is Galli v New Jersey Meadowlands Commission, no. 05-4114.

In 1976, 1980, and 1990, the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled that government employees in non-policymaking positions cannot be fired, demoted, or otherwise injured, just because of their partisan affiliation. In those cases, the injured employee was an active partisan of the party out of power.

By contrast, in the recent New Jersey case, the injured employee was fired not because she was a Republican, but because she was a registered independent who kept her political opinions private. The 3rd circuit said “The First Amendment protects an employee’s failure to engage in any political activity whatsoever…A citizen’s right not to support a candidate is just as relevant for First Amendment purposes as her right to support one…The right of freedom of thought protected by the First Amendment includes both the right to speak freely and the right to refrain from speaking at all.”

The vote was 2-1. The dissenting judge argued that an employee who doesn’t speak out on politics is not exercising her rights.

The decision will be somewhat useful should any new or previously unqualified party sue Illinois, over Illinois law that requires a new party to run a full slate of candidates, if it wishes to appear on the ballot. The case would be unusual; the political party that files such a case would be arguing for the right not to run for certain positions.

On June 20, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich signed HB 426 into law. It moves the primary (for all office) from March to February. It also moves the deadline for a qualified party to notify the state of its presidential and vice-presidential candidates from late August to September 5. This is to accomodate the Republican Party’s unprecedently late national convention. The party won’t choose its ticket formally until September 3 or September 4, 2008.

Illinois will be the first state in U.S. history in which major parties will nominate their candidates for Congress in February of an election year. No state has ever before held a congressional primary (for regularly-scheduled elections) earlier than March.

South Carolina S99 has become law, over Governor Mark Sanford’s veto. The bill provides that political parties that polled 5% or more of the vote for president in the last election may have presidential primaries paid for by state government. The old law required all parties to administer and pay for their own presidential primaries, although they had always been entitled to use government buildings rent-free as polling places.

The major parties had been paying for their presidential primaries by charging presidential candidates a very large fee; for example, the Republican Party was charging $25,000. The new law says that the State Board of Elections will set the fee, but the State Board cannot exceed $20,000. The money will go to the government, not the parties. Parties will still set the date of their own presidential primaries. Thanks to Scott West for this news.