On February 13, the Alabama Constitution, Green, and Libertarian Parties filed their opening brief in Stein v Bennett in the Eleventh Circuit. This is the case over Alabama’s March petition deadline for newly-qualifying parties in presidential years. The U.S. District Court had upheld that deadline, on the grounds that the three parties’ presidential candidates in 2012 used the independent petition procedure. That procedure requires only 5,000 signatures, and is not due until September, but does not permit the party label. The U.S. District Court said that minor parties are not severely burdened when their candidates are not allowed to have their party label on the ballot.