JURIST Supported by the University of Pittsburgh
PAPER CHASE NEWSBURSTDigest RSS feedFull RSS feed
Serious law. Primary sources. Global perspective.


Monday, January 23, 2006

Louisiana October primary vote ruled unconstitutional
Katerina Ossenova at 7:11 PM ET

[JURIST] A federal judge Monday overturned as unconstitutional a Louisiana law [text] that would have moved the state's congressional primary from November to October. Louisiana passed the legislation under the impetus of its "open primary" system that allows all candidates to run together, regardless of party affiliation. If no candidate won over 50%, a run-off primary election would have been held a month later, in November. The court determined that Louisiana was violating the federal law that requires elections for national offices to be held at the same time and therefore had to hold its initial primary elections in November, in sync with the rest of the nation. As a result, Louisiana run-off elections will now take place in December, putting Louisiana behind all of the other states. This effect has led to concerns [Advocate report] that Louisiana representatives will be last in line for seniority and committee assignments. The Louisiana attorney general has not yet decided whether to appeal the decision. AP has more.






Link |  | print | subscribe | RSS feeds | latest newscast | Facebook page

For more legal news check the Paper Chase Archive...


LATEST LEGAL NEWS

 Malaysia authorities seize newspapers, detain opposition activists
12:34 PM ET, May 23

 Member of feminist rock group Pussy Riot denied parole
11:56 AM ET, May 23

 Egypt court acquits police officers accused of killing protester
11:39 AM ET, May 23

 click for more...

Get JURIST legal news delivered daily to your e-mail!

LATEST FORUM

The War on Terror and the Need for Muslim Support
DOMESTIC
Faisal Kutty
Valparaiso University Law School

ABOUT

Paper Chase is JURIST's real-time legal news service, powered by a team of 30 law student reporters and editors led by law professor Bernard Hibbitts at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. As an educational service, Paper Chase is dedicated to presenting important legal news and materials rapidly, objectively and intelligibly in an accessible, ad-free format.

CONTACT

Paper Chase welcomes comments, tips and URLs from readers. E-mail us at JURIST@jurist.org