A Georgia Libertarian, Jay Fisher, will make a serious attempt to become the first political party nominee (other than a Democrat or Republican) to appear on the ballot for U.S. House of Representatives from Georgia in the last 63 years. In 1943 Georgia enacted a law that requires minor party and independent candidates for U.S. House to submit a petition signed by 5% of the registered voters in that district. No independent has managed this since 1964, and no minor party nominee has ever done it. Jay Fisher is a Deputy Attorney General, an activist in LEAP (Law Enforcement Personnel Against Prohibition), and was a paramedic while attending law school. He needs campaign contributions to cope with the requirement that he collect 15,000 valid signatures from the 6th district. His address is 3013 Mulberry St., Marietta Ga 30066.

If he succeeds, there will be publicity about the petition requirement, which will help garner support for easing the requirement.

The Socialist Equality Party lawsuit against Ohio’s March 1 independent petition deadline will be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Law Professor Mark Brown of Capital University has agreed to write the cert petition.

Dmitri Evseev has had an article published in the Boston University Law Review, on the mediocre job the US Supreme Court has done in cases involving minor political parties. The article is in the Dec. 2005 issue and can be read on-line at www.bu.edu/law/lawreview.