On August 30, the Michigan State Court of Appeals ruled that “The Tea Party” should not be added to the ballot because of discrepancies over its name. In many official documents it had said its name is “The Tea Party”. But on the petition sheets, the name of the party is “Tea Party”. See this story. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the link. The decision doesn’t appear to be on the Court’s web page yet. UPDATE: the party says it will appeal to the State Supreme Court.
The Tea Party movement had not created the party that submitted the petition. Considerable evidence showed that the petition had been circulated and paid for by groups and individuals associated with the Democratic Party. Although the awareness of that might have influenced the judges’ attitude toward the case, factors like that are separate from the legal issues in this case.
As much as I’d like to say “too bad” to the Democr…, er, “Tea” party, it’s chickensh*t stuff like this that affects us all. If the courts do keep them off, I really hope its for a more substantial reason than just the word “the”. Cripes!
Now 4 Donkeys and 3 Elephants on the party hack Mich Supremes — to be disturbed during their summer vacations.