Texas GOP Appeals DeLay Decision To ... Scalia
In its last chance to remove Tom DeLay from the November election ballot, the Texas Republican Party appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court today, arguing that lower courts misinterpreted the constitution and unfairly denied voters a "meaninful choice" between candidates.
The application for a stay was sent to circuit justice Antonin Scalia.
James Bopp Jr., the party's lawyer, said in a statement that “The fundamental error of the federal court is that it ignored the fact that the Texas statutes only shift the burden to the candidate to reaffirm his eligibility. Since DeLay does not intend to return to Texas and has not, therefore, reaffirmed his eligibility, the party may replace him.”
On August 3, an appeals court agreed with a district judge that the party used improper criteria to kick DeLay off the ballot and ordered a stop to the party's ballot replacement efforts. Today's application asks the high court to overturn that order and allow the party to continue along its path of choosing DeLay's replacement.