The US Supreme Court has rejected a bid by independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader to reverse a Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision that prevented him from being placed on the state's election ballot. Nader's bid to be placed on the ballot had originally been rejected by the PA Commonwealth Court following their finding that over 32,000 of the signatures on the Nader campaign's election petitions were invalid. After the state Supreme Court upheld that ruling Nader appealed to the US Supreme Court, charging that the rejection of signatures from individuals not registered to vote was a violation of their First Amendment right to freedom of expression and association. The Court has yet to rule on a similar appeal filed by Nader in the state of Ohio. JURIST's Paper Chase has background on the PA appeal. AP has more.

UPDATE: The Supreme Court's Order is now online here [PDF].