Socialist Equality Party (USA): Urgent Supreme Court motion against Michigan Voting Licensing Act
Von
Kevin Reed
5. September 2020
On Monday, the Socialist Equality Party (SEP) appealed a judgment from the Court of Appeal of the Sixth District Court to the US Supreme Court. The latter had rejected the party’s complaint that Michigan’s electoral law, as applied during the corona pandemic, was unconstitutional.
The SEP candidates, Joseph Kishore (Presidency) and Norissa Santa Cruz (Vice Presidency), submitted an urgent application for an injunction to the Supreme Court judge Sonia Sotomayor.
Originally, the SEP was in the case on June 18 Kishore versus Whitmer sued Governor Gretchen Whitmer and other high-ranking officials responsible for licensing the state in the District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.
For the past two and a half months, the SEP has consistently argued that the distancing measures due to the coronavirus pandemic are making it impossible for the party to collect thousands of signatures from registered voters for Kishore and Santa Cruz to run in Michigan in November. The party therefore called the right to vote unconstitutional, stating that collecting the signatures posed a serious threat to the health and life of its supporters and the electorate.
In addition, the SEP has shown that the decisions of the lower courts to reject the complaint without addressing any of the arguments constitutes a violation of the constitutional rights of its candidates, party members and supporters. They are denied the right to vote for a socialist candidate in the 2020 US presidential election.
The first instance verdict was pronounced on July 8 by District Judge Sean F. Cox, who was appointed by Republican President George W. Bush. Cox endorsed the arguments made by representatives of the Michigan Democratic Party that the SEP should have collected signatures during the pandemic. As the trial progressed, it became clear that neither Cox nor Governor Whitmer – contrary to their public statements during the exit restrictions in March, April and May – took the SEP’s health concerns seriously. In the oral justification, Judge Cox spoke of a “so-called mortal danger”, although at that time tens of thousands tested positive for the virus and thousands across Michigan died from Covid-19.
On August 24, Judge John K. Bush, appointed by President Trump, pronounced the verdict of the Sixth District Court of Appeals. It countered the arguments of the SEP with standardized language and supported the positions of the Michigan Democrats. That the legal arguments were designed to deny the SEP permission to vote was also shown by Judge Bush’s reactionary declaration that the election laws were necessary “to avoid excessive ballot papers and dubious candidates and not to confuse voters”.
In the initial section of her petition to the US Supreme Court, SEP asked Judge Sotomayor to “grant an urgent motion to prohibit defendants from printing the Michigan presidential election papers in November 2020 without the names of Kishore and Santa Cruz. The printing of the ballot papers must be postponed, “it continues,” until the matter has been resolved in this court or other instructions are issued that are necessary or appropriate to protect the rights of the applicant. “
The urgent motion responds to the flimsy remarks by Judge Bush that the SEP was not “diligent enough” to collect signatures. The SEP states that it has “refrained from collecting signatures because it did not want to or under normal circumstances would not have had the ability to do so, but because it refused to risk the lives of its supporters and the public to comply with Michigan’s legal requirements for electoral admission. She should not be punished for her sense of responsibility, but rather praised. “
The SEP specifically addressed Judge Bush’s claim that voters would be confused in its motion. She said that if Kishore and Santa Cruz were allowed to vote, “by definition, there would be no risk of confusion, as their socialist program clearly stands out from the rest of the candidates.” She went on to say that it was “in the public interest” to allow the SEP to vote “because it gives Michigan voters the opportunity to support candidates whose policies are more closely aligned with their own views.”
The SEP made this argument in its original lawsuit in June. It refers directly to the political reasons for the repeated attacks on basic democratic rights of the voters represented in the judgments Kishore against Whitmer are included so far. Socialism is becoming increasingly popular in the United States. According to a 2018 Gallup poll, less than half of young people between the ages of 18 and 29 see capitalism positively, while more than half have a positive view of socialism.
A refusal by Judge Sotomayor to grant the party’s motion for an injunction would make workers and youth aware that the courts are partisan and ultimately represent the interests of the banks, corporations and billionaire oligarchs, who are all economic in capitalist society and own and control political levers of power.
In the face of the corona pandemic and escalating state violence, social tensions are escalating and mass struggles of the working class and youth increase. That is why there is fear in the political and judicial system that the revolutionary program of the SEP will meet with widespread approval in US history.
With the SEP’s urgent motion, the Trotskyist movement went to the Supreme Court for the first time since World War II. On December 8, 1941, the day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, 18 members of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) were sentenced to imprisonment for violating the Smith Act, inciting and conspiring to overthrow the US government.
The SWP had challenged these judgments to the Supreme Court. On November 22, 1943, he refused to grant her appeal. One month later, the 18 defendants surrendered to the authorities and began serving prison terms of 12 to 16 months.
See also:
Oligarch policy: US appeals court blocks SEP lawsuit against undemocratic electoral law
[10. August 2020]
SEP is appealing against Michigan election ruling
[27. Juli 2020]
Michigan court decides: SEP has to collect thousands of signatures despite the corona pandemic
[13. Juli 2020]
Federal judge dismisses SEP’s lawsuit against Michigan’s electoral licensing laws
[10. Juli 2020]
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