As the Third Circuit Court of Appeals determines whether to grant a stay on a District Court ruling abolishing the county organizational line in this year’s Democratic primary, several parties have filed amicus briefs commenting on the case.
Yesterday, Morris County Republicans and the New Jersey County Republican Chairs Association submitted a brief arguing that the county line is in fact constitutional, and the ruling by District Judge Zahid Quraishi has created unnecessary havoc that must be remedied. Quraishi’s preliminary injunction only applies to Democrats, but attorneys Peter King and Matt Moench wrote in their brief that their clients have a “direct interest” in the litigation in the event that future rulings affect Republican primaries.
“With just two months before New Jersey’s primary elections, the district court has contravened New Jersey Supreme Court precedent and the Supreme Court’s Purcell doctrine to enjoin a constitutional and timeless cornerstone of New Jersey elections: ballot bracketing,” King and Moench argue. “By issuing a preliminary injunction enjoining New Jersey’s bracketing statutes, the district court has now cast New Jersey election administration into chaos and improperly dragged the court system into the political question arena.”
Meanwhile, three off-the-line Democratic candidates – Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla, who’s running for the 8th congressional district; Patricia Campos-Medina, who’s running for the U.S. Senate; and former Passaic County Sheriff Jerry Speziale, who’s aiming to regain his old post – filed their own amicus brief in support of Quraishi’s decision. County clerks’ protestations that the order will be difficult to execute should be ignored, attorney Scott Salmon wrote, and the ruling should be allowed to stand.
“The movants ask this Court to take their word that changing to a different ballot design, one used in every election in every state in our nation aside from New Jersey, is both impossible to do and will cause significant voter confusion. They rely on hearsay, supposition, and vague speculation to do so,” Salmon wrote. “The Court should trust its own eyes and the plaintiffs’ facts over the movants’ unsupported, self-serving, and desperate statements, and deny the motion for stay pending appeal.”
Read the full amicus brief filed by the Morris GOP:
Read the full amicus brief filed by Bhalla, Campos-Medina, and Speziale: