Federal Judiciary

Chief rejects candidate plea

By Lyle Denniston

Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., refused on Thursday afternoon to require Virginia officials to count all of the nominating petition signatures gathered by a “Tea Party” candidate who is seeking to run for a seat in Congress.  In a three-page order, the Chief Justice concluded that candidate Herb Lux has not shown an “indisputably clear” right to have those signatures counted.

Lux, who lives in Rappahannock, Va., is a resident of the state’s First Congressional District, but  prefers to run for a House seat in the Seventh District, which may be more favorably inclined toward his independent message.  He witnessed many of the gathered signatures himself.  But state law allows petition signatures to be witnessed only by a resident of the congressional district in which those petitions were circulated.

In denying relief, the Chief Justice said that Lux “may very well be correct” that the Fourth Circuit Court precedent used against his petitions has been undermined by more recent Supreme Court rulings protecting the rights of petition circulators.  But, Roberts went on, the federal courts of appeals are in disagreement about the validity of residency requirements for those involved in petitioning efforts, so that indicates that Lux’s rights are not “indisputably clear.”

His rights would have to meet that standard, the order said, to get legal relief from the Supreme Court.   Roberts acted in his role as Circuit Justice for the Fourth Circuit, which includes Virginia.

Lux is seeking to get on the ballot in the Richmond-area district now represented by Republican Rep. Eric Cantor, a top-ranking member of the GOP House leadership.

Full post as published by SCOTUSBLOG on September 30, 2010 (boomark / email).