[EL] Breaking News (Perry lawsuit against Va); more news

Tue Dec 27 16:05:17 PST 2011

Can someone with more knowledge of the facts in Virginia clarify the following for me:

Did Perry (or Gingrich) submit signatures gathered by out-of-state circulators and have those signatures disqualified in sufficient numbers to have resulted in the petitions not qualifying, or is the claim simply that they would have been able to submit more signatures if the allegedly unconstitutional restriction had not existed and they had not abided by it?

Perry's complaint seems to be ambiguous in this regard (probably intentionally), but If the claim is the latter, then I think the issue isn't just one of laches, but of a failure to state a claim, since he has not in fact submitted a sufficient number of signatures by the prescribed deadline.  On the other hand, if the claim is the former -- that signatures were wrongly disqualified pursuant to an unconstitutional condition imposed on the circulators -- then I don't believe laches should be a valid defense:  the claim was brought the moment it became ripe in that the injury was caused by enforcing the unconstitutional restriction.

Fredric D. Woocher
Strumwasser & Woocher LLP
10940 Wilshire Blvd., Ste. 2000
Los Angeles, CA 90024
fwoocher at strumwooch.com <blocked::mailto:fwoocher at strumwooch.com> 
(310) 576-1233

________________________________

From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu [mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] On Behalf Of Rick Hasen
Sent: Tuesday, December 27, 2011 3:43 PM
To: law-election at UCI.EDU
Subject: [EL] Breaking News (Perry lawsuit against Va); more news

Breaking News: Rick Perry Files Suit to Get on Va. Ballot <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=27091>  

Posted on December 27, 2011 3:40 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=27091>  by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>  

You can access the complaint here <http://www.rickperry.org/content/uploads/2011/12/Perry-VA-Ballot-Access.pdf> .  The complaint focuses on Virginia’s ban on out-of-state circulators of petitions.  As I told <http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/gingrich-faces-long-odds-to-compete-in-virginia-presidential-primary/2011/12/25/gIQAErmnHP_story.html>  the Washington Post in connection with a possible suit by Newt Gingrich on the same grounds, such a suit now faces long odds both legally and politically.  The initial hurdle is one of laches, the failure to bring suit before filing time.  This is an emergency of Perry’s (and Gingrich’s) own making.  Surely they knew of the requirement earlier.

I fully expect the defendants to raise the laches defense.  On the merits (should a court reach it), the courts are mixed on the residency requirement for petition circulators, though there is law that could help Perry.   Perhaps most relevant is this in-chambers opinion <http://sblog.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Roberts-order-Lux-9-30-101.pdf>  of Chief Justice Roberts in Lux v. Rodrigues.  The Chief found that a related aspect of Virginia’s law could well be unconstitutional under recent Supreme Court precedent, and that Fourth Circuit authority to the contrary may no longer be good law, but he still denied the complaining candidate extraordinary injunctive relief.

  <http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D27091&title=Breaking%20News%3A%20Rick%20Perry%20Files%20Suit%20to%20Get%20on%20Va.%20Ballot&description=> 
Posted in ballot access <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=46> , primaries <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=32>  | Comments Off 

“The Canvass: Special Edition: Expert Predictions for 2012″ <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=27088>  

Posted on December 27, 2011 1:05 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=27088>  by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>  

Here <http://www.ncsl.org/LegislaturesElections/ElectionsCampaigns41/CNVTheCanvassJanuary2011/tabid/23988/Default.aspx> .

 <http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D27088&title=%E2%80%9CThe%20Canvass%3A%20Special%20Edition%3A%20Expert%20Predictions%20for%202012%E2%80%B3&description=> 
Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>  | Comments Off 

“Provoking a Virginia election law legal battle: How Gingrich and Perry could still get on the Virginia primary ballot” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=27085>  

Posted on December 27, 2011 12:42 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=27085>  by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>  

The Northern Virginia Lawyer blogs <http://northernvirginialawyer.blogspot.com/2011/12/provoking-virginia-election-law-legal.html> .

 <http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D27085&title=%E2%80%9CProvoking%20a%20Virginia%20election%20law%20legal%20battle%3A%20How%20Gingrich%20and%20Perry%20could%20still%20get%20on%20the%20Virginia%20primary%20ballot%E2%80%9D&description=> 
Posted in ballot access <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=46> , primaries <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=32>  | Comments Off 

Toobin on South Carolina and Preclearance <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=27082>  

Posted on December 27, 2011 12:34 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=27082>  by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>  

Here <http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2011/12/eric-holders-legacy.html?mbid=social_retweet> , at the New Yorker‘s Daily Comment blog.

I will have more to say on South Carolina and the VRA soon.

 <http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D27082&title=Toobin%20on%20South%20Carolina%20and%20Preclearance&description=> 
Posted in voter id <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=9> , Voting Rights Act <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>  | Comments Off 

“Absentee Ballots Key to Florida Primary” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=27078>  

Posted on December 27, 2011 11:03 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=27078>  by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>  

Miami Herald <http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/12/26/2562421/absentee-ballots-key-to-florida.html> : “More Florida Republicans - about 370,000 - already have requested absentee ballots for the Jan. 31 primary than the number of Republicans who voted in the 2008 Iowa and New Hampshire contests combined.”

 <http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D27078&title=%E2%80%9CAbsentee%20Ballots%20Key%20to%20Florida%20Primary%E2%80%9D&description=> 
Posted in absentee ballots <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=53>  | Comments Off 

“D.C. panel issues decision defining preclearance standards” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=27076>  

Posted on December 27, 2011 11:01 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=27076>  by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>  

This item <http://blog.chron.com/kuffsworld/2011/12/d-c-panel-issues-decision-defining-preclearance-standards/>  appears at the Kuff’s World blog of the Houston Chronicle.

 <http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D27076&title=%E2%80%9CD.C.%20panel%20issues%20decision%20defining%20preclearance%20standards%E2%80%9D&description=> 
Posted in redistricting <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=6> , Voting Rights Act <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=15>  | Comments Off 

“How the Virginia Republican Party Could Expand Voter Choice in its 2012 Presidential Primary” <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=27073>  

Posted on December 27, 2011 10:59 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=27073>  by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>  

Richard Winger explains <http://www.ballot-access.org/2011/12/27/how-the-virginia-republican-party-could-expand-voter-choice-in-its-2012-presidential-primary/> .

 <http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D27073&title=%E2%80%9CHow%20the%20Virginia%20Republican%20Party%20Could%20Expand%20Voter%20Choice%20in%20its%202012%20Presidential%20Primary%E2%80%9D&description=> 
Posted in primaries <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=32>  | Comments Off 
-- 
Rick Hasen
Chancellor's Professor of Law and Political Science
UC Irvine School of Law
401 E. Peltason Dr., Suite 1000
Irvine, CA 92697-8000
949.824.3072 - office
949.824.0495 - fax
rhasen at law.uci.edu
http://law.uci.edu/faculty/page1_r_hasen.html
http://electionlawblog.org

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