BAN:

On September 22, the Seventh Circuit issued a 12-page opinion in Libertarian Party of Illinois v Scholz, 16-1667. The opinion says the U.S. District Court was correct when it invalidated the Illinois “full-slate” ballot access restriction. The law, which has existed since 1931, says a newly-qualifying party must run a full slate of candidates or it can’t run any. The law has made life miserable for minor parties in Illinois for 86 years, and there have been many attempts to have it declared unconstitutional in the past, but they had all failed. The law did not apply to qualified parties.

This current case took years to reach this point. It was filed in 2012. The attorney who filed the case, Gary Sinawski, had died in the meantime, and the party had had to find a new attorney to carry on the case, David Schoen. Both of them did an excellent job.