
9th Circuit broadens petition circulation rights
TheFederal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled today that an Arizona law thatbans out-of-state residents as petition circulators is unconstitutional. The logic of the decision, according to "Ballot Access News," would apply to circulation of any types of petitions. The court also ruled unconstitutional in the same case (brought by Ralph Nader) a separate Arizona law establishing a deadline for independent presidential candidate’s filings to be on the state ballot. But the big constitutional victory was on petition circulation.
Readers will know I have posted in the past and criticized restrictions government places on who may circulate a petition. The Federal constitutional right to petition government does not evaporate just because someone crosses a state-line, and whether or not a petition circulator gets paid does not sully or diminish that important right.
A tactic of liberals in California to dillute the people’s power of initiative guaranteed by the State Constitution, and thereby build up the power of our gerrymandered permanent Democratic-dominated state legislature, is to impose every… Read More