Friday, November 27, 2009

SC Green Party ballot access case: oral arguments scheduled

Tthe South Carolina Supreme Court has scheduled oral argument in the case of Tempel v. Platt case for 9:30 am on January 6, 2010 in Columbia. The exact location will be announced later, and posted on this website. All interested parties are invited to attend. Representatives of the SC Green Party will certainly be there.

Richard Winger of Ballot Access News recently summarized the issues of the case:


The Green Party nominated Eugene Platt for state legislature on May 3, 2008, at a convention. The next month, Platt was defeated for the Democratic Party nomination for the same seat. South Carolina permits fusion, so Platt had been hoping to be the nominee of both parties in November. Because he lost the Democratic nomination in June, the Green Party nomination was considered void by the state, and Platt was omitted from the November ballot entirely. The state’s brief mostly ignores Platt’s strongest precedent, called California Democratic Party v Jones, the U.S. Supreme Court 2000 decision that said it is unconstitutional for a state to force a party to let outsiders help determine its nominee. Platt argues that since the Democratic Party was permitted to cancel out his Green Party nomination, the South Carolina system (as appled to instances when a minor party nominates first, before a major party nominating event) violates the principles set forth in California Democratic Party v Jones.


This case is also known as "South Carolina Green Party v South Carolina State Election Commission". The names of cases pursued to appeal from state level and on the federal courts are frequently referred to to the names of the litigants.

More: Archive for the ‘South Carolina Green Party v South Carolina State Election Commission’ Category

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