The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals today ruled that former U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay must stay on the November ballot for the office he resigned from in June, according to a lawyer for the Texas Democratic Party.
Details of the ruling were not immediately available.
Democrats sued Texas Republican Chairman Tina Benkiser had violated state law and the U.S. Constitution in declaring DeLay ineligible for office so the party could replace him on the ballot.
U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks of Austin ageed with the Democrats’ position last month and issued an injunction against Benkiser.
The GOP appealed the decision to the New Orleans-based 5th Circuit.
A panel of two Democratic presidential appointees and one Republican appointee heard the case on Monday in New Orleans.
Republican lawyer James Bopp Jr. has said the party will appeal again, if it lost the ruling before the panel. The party could ask the full 5th Circuit to hear their appeal, or they could take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
According to the AP, the decision, which you can read here (PDF), was unanimous. While there may yet be more appeals, Hotline on Call says:
Our TV editor, Emily Goodin, reminds us of what DeLay said last night on Hannity and Colmes:
Tom DeLay: “The courts look like they want to keep me on the ballot. The Democrats don’t want to give our people a choice. And if I’m forced to be on the ballot, I’m going to be on the ballot” (“Hannity & Colmes,” FNC, 8/2).
To which I say: Bring it on. The Stakeholder has the reaction from Nick Lampson. Finally, BOR has some choice excerpts from the ruling.
Is this the end of the legal wrangling? What excuse will the Republicans give for this setback? Stay tuned and find out.
UPDATE: The RPT will appeal to the Supreme Court. As TPMMuckraker says, just how badly does DeLay want off the balllot? Pretty damn badly, it would seem.
UPDATE: Rick Hasen adds his analysis of the ruling.
[T]he Republican Party cannot get around the fact that while there is an effort to declare DeLay ineligible because he moved out of state, he in fact voluntarily withdrew from the race he was already in. For these reasons, I expect further appeals to fail.
BOR has more, including a pithy quote from Texas Democratic Party Chair Boyd Richie.
UPDATE: How could I overlook The Muse, who had three good posts on this topic? And if you’re wondering what happened to those amicus briefs that were filed on DeLay’s behalf, Juanita has the answer.
Notice he said “I’ll be on the ballot” and not “I’ll be campaigning aggressively.”
Great links, Charles, thanks. Everything I wanted to know, I found here.
Since the Supremes are in recess until October, I’m curious about the GOP’s strategy. It’s highly unlikely that the Supreme Court would decide the case in the GOP’s favor before late October, at the very earliest, and why would they want to break their backs to help Tom DeLay, after all the mean things he said about the federal judiciary? Seems that DeLay has years of bad karma catching up with him, even in a state and country that is currently dominated by his political party.
Perhaps the plan is to try so hard to “give the people a choice”, but the Dems won’t let me, so punish them by voting DeLay. The continued appeals still keep DeLay in the news, so maybe the Reps think that would work well enough to get him re-elected.
But, I cannot imagine DeLay spending much money campaigning. He may think his criminal charges are bogus, but he can’t afford for Ronnie Earle to get lucky. So, his money is going where it will do Tom DeLay the most good…to his lawyers.
Some advice for DeLay as he heads to the Supreme Court: Avoid Rosenthal’s council. Thank you that’ll be $350.00.