On June 4 the US Supreme Court will probably say
whether it will hear Lawrence v Blackwell, 05-1089
(conference is on Thursday, June 1).  The issue is the
Ohio deadline of March 1, for independent candidates
(for office other than president) in presidential
years.  The plaintiff tried to be a candidate for
Congress in 2004, but he was blocked by the deadline.

Last year the 6th circuit upheld the March 1 deadline,
even though courts in Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas,
Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri,
Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, and
Pennsylvania had earlier struck down deadlines (for
office other than president) that are in April, May or
June.  The attorney for the candidate, Law Professor
Mark Brown of Capital University in Columbus, Ohio,
wrote a cert petition stressing the split in circuits.

In Clingman v Beaver last year, 5 justices of the US
Supreme Court spoke sympathetically about minor party
and independent candidate ballot access problems,
though Clingman v Beaver was not a ballot access case
(instead it was a case about whether parties can
invite members of other parties to vote in their
primaries).  The Court hasn't taken a ballot access
case since 1991.

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