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More Lawsuits from the Libertarian Party - Good Ones This Time

My last post may have made it look like I was altogether opposed to the use of lawsuits for purposes such as advancing the Libertarian Party. This is not, in fact, the case. When rights are being trampled on and electoral systems are truly unfairly slanted, taking it to the courts is often the best course of action. The Libertarian party has taken two such actions which I agree with in the very recent past.

First, the Libertarian Party of Washington State recently won a lawsuit against Secretary of State Same Reed forcing the Party's senate and gubernatorial candidates on the ballot (this entry and this other one on Jacqueline Passey's blog are actually more informative than Sam Reed's official press release). Bravo. As I blogged previously, the Libertarian Party was in danger of being excluded due to a loophole introduced by Washington's terrible new electoral system. Judge Richard Shepherd of Washington's Superior Court for Thurston County ruled that the new electoral system implicitly removed the 1% requirement left over from the previous system.

A second lawsuit has been filed by the Libertarian Party of Arizona, seeking an injunction blocking the third Bush/Kerry debate. The reasoning is based in an Arizona law preventing public funds from going to political campaigns. The Libertarians have "major party" status in Arizona, as in Washington, and so, the Party says, by holding the debate at Arizona State University and funding putting it on with public funds, the state would be donating to candidates from two of Arizona's three major parties, unfairly favoring Democrats and Republicans over Libertarians. Again, bravo. Best of luck on this lawsuit. It has the potential to generate lots of media attention for Michael Badnarik and the Libertarian Party nationwide. Here's hoping!