Oklahoma Won’t Ask for U.S. Supreme Court Review in Out-of-State Circulators Case

January 22nd, 2009

On January 22, Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson said that he will not appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, in the case over whether the U.S. Constitution protects the right of out-of-state circulators to work on Oklahoma initiative petitions. He also said he is dropping criminal charges against Paul Jacob, Susan Johnson, and Rick Carpenter. They had been charged with conspiring to bring in out-of-state initiative circulators.

It will be interesting to see if a bill is introduced in the upcoming session of the Oklahoma legislature to repeal the ban on out-of-state initiative circulators.

4 Responses to “Oklahoma Won’t Ask for U.S. Supreme Court Review in Out-of-State Circulators Case”

  1. M Carling Says:
    January 23rd, 2009 at 9:08 am

    Congratulations to Paul, Susan, and Rick! They are heroes.

  2. Tom McLaughlin Says:
    January 23rd, 2009 at 9:20 am

    By not going to the Supreme Court (and losing there), is Oklahoma following the Pennsylvania’s practice? PA Commonwealth Court says it is not bound by lower federal court rulings, only US Supreme Court rulings. For that reason, when Pennsylvania loses in Federal court and thinks it may not win in the US Supreme Court, it does not appeal. By not appealing (and losing) in the US Supreme Court, Oklahoma avoids a ruling which will impact all the other states.

  3. Richard Says:
    January 23rd, 2009 at 1:13 pm

    I don’t think Oklahoma officials follow the Pennsylvania way of thinking. Anyway, this issue won’t really be settled until we see whether the US Supreme Court hears the Nader Arizona case.

  4. Steve Rankin Says:
    January 23rd, 2009 at 4:00 pm

    I thought the Supreme Court had agreed to hear Brewer v. Nader.