Ed Still posted a story about the May 18 Alabama State
supreme court decision, keeping a candidate off the
Republican primary ballot because she had praised the
Constitution Party on her radio talk-show.  That
candidate, Kelly McGinley, is today asking the US
Supreme Court to put her back on the Republican
primary ballot.  The primary is June 1.  McGinley is
running for a district seat on the State Board of
Education.

The stakes are higher than might be apparent.  If the
State Supreme Court ruling stands (Republican Party of
Alabama v McGinley, no. 1031166), there will be a
precedent that the Republican Party of Alabama will be
able to bar Roy Moore from running for Governor in the
Republican primary in 2006.  Moore has been touring
the nation, speaking at Constitution Party meetings
with that party's likely presidential nominee, Michael
Peroutka.  Moore's presense at these meetings draws a
big crowd for Peroutka.

McGinley argues that due process requires that the
Republican Party have had in place some clear
standards as to what constitutes "disloyalty" to the
Republican Party, but that since there are no such
standards, she could not have known that her comments
about the Constitution Party would have the effect of
barring her from the Republican primary ballot in the
future.  McGinley had won in the lower state court.

If anyone can post a link to the Alabama Supreme Court
opinion of May 18, I would appreciate it.  Again, it
is case no. 1031166, Republican Party of Alabama v
Kelly McGinley.  The Alabama Supreme Court has no
decisions on its webpage, and findlaw doesn't have it.
 Westlaw subscribers can get it, but I am not a
Westlaw subscriber.  A law firm in Alabama also has a
webpage that usually posts such decisions, but the
person who does that is on vacation.


	
		
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