In an opinion of nearly unfettered legal accuracy Judge John
A. Gibney of the United States District
Court for the Eastern District of Virginia ruled today that Rick Perry, Newt
Gingrich, Rick Santorum and John Huntsman would not be added to the Virginia
Republican primary ballot in 2012.
Opinion here.
In an attempt to get this published before the long weekend
my summary will be brief.
Laches control the
day
Judge Gibney ruled against the excluded candidates based on
the equitable doctrine of laches.
"Laches requires the proof of two
elements: (1) lack of diligence by the party against whom the defense is
asserted, and (2) prejudice to the party asserting the defense." Slip Op. p.
9.
Regarding element one the Judge
said "the candidates waited almost half a year before seeking judicial
relief . . . [and] displayed an unreasonable and inexcusable lack of
diligence." Slip Op. p. 11. Regarding element two the Judge said,
"it is too late for the Court to allow [the candidates] to gather more
signatures--the absentee ballots must go out now." Slip Op. p. 12.
This is consistent with my warning
on January 27, 2012, my analysis
of the Perry lawsuit later that day, and my prediction
from this morning.
This is the entire case, the rest
of the opinion is surplusage for the parties to address on appeal.
Additional points
The Judge ruthlessly mocked my
standing argument, although he utilized a hybrid version in the laches analysis.
For those interested look at the major
4th Circuit election law case on the issue of standing quoted in the brief,
you may recognize some of the counsel of record. Miller
v. Brown, Slip Op. p. 12.
Finally Judge Gibney slams the argument
that the 10,000 signature requirement is unconstitutional going so far as to
mock Perry's counsel for not having even raised it for the preliminary
injunction. I
took a more measured approach on January 27, but I still agree with all of
Judge Gibney's harsh analysis on this point.
Ultimately this means there will
be two candidates on the ballot in March.
Only two professional campaigns remain.
Updates to come later...
UPDATE: The 4th Circuit has already denied the emergency appeal. Always good coverage from Richard Winger, here.
UPDATE: The 4th Circuit has already denied the emergency appeal. Always good coverage from Richard Winger, here.
So what about your much earlier comment that they were better off going to the Richmond local Circuit Court - as you suggested the issues surrounding VC 24.2-545 were the real issues and that going to Federal Court was a comparative exercise in wasted effort ?
ReplyDeleteJohn[sic] Stewart,
ReplyDeleteJust a couple days later I acknowledged that the facts were insufficient to pursue the Circuit Court remedy:
http://northernvirginialawyer.blogspot.com/2011/12/gingrich-out-of-good-legal-arguments-to.html
This did not stop a citizen-litigator from filing, but he appears to have all but abandoned his lawsuit.
Please say hello to Mr. Colbert for me.