Libertarian Lana Leguía missed a critical 5 PM deadline imposed by a federal judge today, potentially imperiling her last-ditch attempt to return to the ballot in New Jersey’s hugely competitive 7th congressional district.
U.S. District Court Judge Zahid Quraishi ordered Leguía to file a proposed order associated with her emergent motion, copies of the relevant state administrative and court decisions, and proof that her complaint and motion had been served on the state.
No such filings appeared on the federal court docket by the deadline, or by 7:45 PM this evening.
Quraishi also directed Leguía’s attorney, Joseph Fortunato, to serve the order immediately on the state and file proof of that service.
The failure to comply could give Quraishi grounds to decline to hear Leguía’s application on an emergent basis, although the judge had not issued any further order as of Friday evening.
Quraishi directed the state to respond to Leguía’s motion by noon Monday and scheduled a telephone conference for 2:30 PM that day. It is unclear whether that conference will proceed as planned if Leguía does not cure the deficiencies identified by the judge.
Leguía filed her federal lawsuit after losing four times in state court—once before an administrative law judge, once before the Appellate Division, and twice before the New Jersey Supreme Court.
The New Jersey Republican State Committee, which brought the successful challenge to Leguía’s petitions in state court, told Quraishi that it had not been served with the federal lawsuit and only learned Friday afternoon about Monday’s conference.
“Despite that, we were not served with this lawsuit and learned this afternoon that the court has scheduled [a] telephone conference,” Maureen Coghlan, an attorney for the Republicans, told Quraishi in a letter today.
Coghlan said that the NJ GOP “intends to file a motion to intervene and respectfully requests the opportunity to participate in the Court’s conference.”
She submitted 759 signatures to qualify for the November ballot, and election officials initially accepted 755. But three New York residents collected 670 of them, running afoul of a state law requiring circulators of independent and minor-party petitions to be eligible New Jersey voters. Without those signatures, Leguía had just 85 valid signatures, 165 fewer than the 250 required.
Leguía argues that the residency requirement is unconstitutional. She relies heavily on a 2021 federal court decision striking down a similar restriction on circulators of major-party primary petitions.
An administrative law judge initially recommended removing her from the ballot but said he lacked jurisdiction to decide the constitutional question. Secretary of State Dale Caldwell later restored Leguía, but the Appellate Division reversed. The state Supreme Court declined to hear her appeal and later rejected her motion for reconsideration.
The litigation carries potentially significant political consequences. Leguía received 3,784 votes in 2024, when Republican Rep. Tom Kean Jr. defeated Democrat Sue Altman by 23,306 votes.
Kean is seeking a third term against Democrat Rebecca Bennett, a former Navy helicopter pilot, in a race expected to be among the most competitive House contests in the country. Independent candidate Seamus Patrick O’Toole is also on the ballot under the slogan “Stop Israel’s Genocide.”