Georgia Libertarians Win Reconsideration Of Equal Protection In Ballot Access Case

[TexasTowelie]

The Libertarian Party of Georgia, several prospective Libertarian candidates for Congress, and several Libertarian voters—collectively, “the Libertarian Party” or “the Party”—brought the instant case against the Secretary of State of Georgia. They alleged that Georgia’s ballot-access requirements for third-party and independent candidates violated their associational rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments and their Equal Protection rights under the Fourteenth Amendment. The district court granted the Secretary of State summary judgment, concluding that it did not need to apply the Supreme Court’s test for the constitutionality of ballot-access requirements, as articulated in Anderson v. Celebreeze, 460 U.S. 780 (1983), and the Party appeals from that determination.

After careful review, and with the benefit of oral argument, we vacate the district court’s grant of summary judgment. We conclude that the district court’s failure to conduct the Anderson test constitutes reversible error; accordingly, we remand the case to the district court with instructions to conduct in the first instance the Anderson test and to consider the Party’s Equal Protection claim.

Read more: https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/ballotaccessrequirements.pdf