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Ballot Access News reports:
On August 5, U.S. District Court Judge Rosemary Collyer, a Bush Jr. appointee, ruled against Gary Johnson and Jill Stein in their debates lawsuit. The case had been filed on September 28, 2015, and is Johnson v Commission on Presidential Debates, U.S. District Court, D.C., 1:15cv-1580.
[...] The 27-page decision[Redirects to a PDF] [...] says, "Because Plaintiffs have no standing and because antitrust laws govern commercial markets and not political activity, those claims fail as a matter of well-established law."
[...] Footnote three, based on the judge's own research (or the research of her clerks), has factual errors. The judge relied on election returns published by the FEC, but the FEC returns do not say which candidates were [...] in states with a majority of electoral college votes, and the opinion's list of candidates is erroneous.
[...] Another factual error in the decision is on page 21. The decision says Ralph Forbes, an independent candidate for U.S. Senate, lost a case over debates in the U.S. Supreme Court in 1998. Actually Forbes was a candidate for U.S. House.
In the comments, Richard Winger notes a similar case.
the lawsuit Level the Playing Field v FEC is still pending, before another judge, in the same court
The presidential debates were previously moderated by the League of Women Voters (1976, 1980, 1984). The Democrats and Republicans screwed things up in 1988. The Commission on Presidential Debates, a corporation controlled by the Democratic and Republican parties, has run each of the presidential debates held since 1988.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 08 2016, @05:21PM
Did you not see what effect the Tea Party movement had?
Yes, yes I did. Let's go for the lazy top three hits on google ride.
- I'm just grass roots -
- Yes, I'm only grass roots -*
"...Three heavy hitters rule [the Tea Part]. You’ve heard of one of them, Rupert Murdoch. The other two, the brothers David and Charles Koch, are even richer..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/29/opinion/29rich.html [nytimes.com]
- And I'm sitting hear on plutocratic cash -
"The Americans for Prosperity Foundation is the Koch brothers’ primary political advocacy group."..."AFP is the political arm of the Americans for Prosperity Foundation, for which David Koch serves as chairman of the Board of Trustees."
"Both FreedomWorks and Americans for Prosperity have provided support for the Tea Party movement.[78][79] AFP spent $45 million in the 2010 election."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_activities_of_the_Koch_brothers [wikipedia.org]
- But I'll know that I'll be grass roots some day -
"The average Tea Party Caucus member received more than $25,000 from the oil and gas industry, compared to about $13,000 for the average House member and $21,500 for the average House Republican."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_Party_Caucus#Funding [wikipedia.org]
- At least I hope and pray that I will -
- But today I am still just a plutocratic shill -
Sung to the excerpted tune of "I'm just a bill"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 08 2016, @10:59PM
Pay no mind to OriginalOwner. He's always coming here with his worn-out Tea Party talking points.