The Seattle University Law Review has just published Oliver Hall’s article, criticizing the U.S. Supreme Court’s ballot access record. The article is in Volume 29 (Winter 2005), number 2, and is 42 pages.
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On February 10, 2006, the Mississippi Democratic Party filed a federal lawsuit to obtain a closed primary for itself. Mississippi Democratic Party v Barbour, 4:06cv-29, northern dist. (Greenville). Mississippi is one of the 21 states that doesn’t have registration by party. It’s not clear, if the Democratic Party won its lawsuit, how the party would determine which voters are “really” Democrats. Thanks to Steve Rankin for this news.
On February 27, the Illinois Supreme Court unanimously affirmed a lower court order from December 2005, and left three incumbent judges on the ballot. The election law required them to file in December 2005, but the State Constitution sets a later filing deadline. The Illinois Supreme Court indicated it will write an opinion striking down the statutory deadline, since it conflicts with the State Constitution. O’Brien v White, 102077.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court will hear “In re Nomination Paper of Nader” on March 1 in Pittsburgh. The issue is whether Ralph Nader should be required to pay attorneys fees of approximately $80,000. In Pennsylvania, when a candidate petition is challenged, the issue of whether the petition is valid goes immediately to court. Nader submitted approximately 50,000 signatures in 2004, to meet a requirement of 25,697. The state court determined he didn’t have enough valid signatures. Now the people who challenged his petition are claiming that Nader, as the loser in a court case, should be required to pay attorneys fees for the challengers. Since the Nader 2004 petition was the first minor party or independent statewide petition that had been challenged since 1938, there is no clear precedent for this type of petition, on the matter of attorneys fees. The hearing is at 801 City-County Building in the morning; court starts at 9 a.m. and the Nader hearing is 5th.
Lawrence v Blackwell, the lawsuit challenging the March 1 petition deadline for Ohio independent candidates (for office other than president) is now before the U.S. Supreme Court (05-1089). That court will probably decide in May whether to hear the case. This is the first ballot access case set before the U.S. Supreme Court (for their decision on whether to hear the case) in over six months.