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Independent Party, et al. v. Alex Padilla, California Secretary of State

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, No. 16-15895 · judgment November 17, 2017


Certiorari denied · March 26, 2018
Pre-decision estimate: 3% cert probability

Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.

Question presented

Whether California’s application of Election Code § 5001, which when enforced with Elections Code § 13105 has the effect of permanently barring any political party who wishes to name itself “Independent Party,” is barred by the First Amendment right to free speech and freedom of association as applied to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Robert Edward Barnes
Barnes law

For respondent
Peter Hsueh-Kang Chang
California Department of Justice

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Amicus briefs
1 cert-stage

Proceedings

  1. Mar 26 2018
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Mar 22 2018
    Brief amicus curiae of Citizens in Charge filed. (Distributed)
  3. Mar 07 2018
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 3/23/2018.
  4. Mar 05 2018
    Waiver of right of respondent Padilla to respond filed.
  5. Feb 15 2018
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due March 28, 2018)