Nader

Introduction

Ralph Nader and one of his supporters in Arizona, Donald Daien (collectively, “plaintiffs”), appeal from the district NADER v. BREWER 8281 court’s grant of summary judgment to Janice Brewer, the Sec- retary of State of Arizona. Plaintiffs alleged that two provi- sions of Arizona’s statutory election scheme—the requirement that circulators of nomination petitions be resi- dents of Arizona and the requirement that nomination peti- tions be filed at least 90 days before the primary election— violated their rights to political speech and association under the First and Fourteenth Amendments. The case arose from Nader’s efforts to appear on the 2004 Arizona general- election ballot as a presidential candidate. The district court upheld both petition requirements, holding that the burdens imposed on the exercise of plaintiffs’ rights were not signifi- cant and were sufficiently justified by the state’s interests.

The district court measured the burdens in terms of the effect the requirements had on Nader’s ability to get on the Arizona ballot. The court held that these requirements were not a material cause of Nader’s failure to get on the ballot in…