From Ballot Access News April 4th, 2011

On April 4, the U.S. Supreme Court revealed that it had decided not to hear Nader v Nago, 10-728, the Hawaii ballot access case. Ralph Nader had filed this case in 2004, challenging Hawaii law that requires an independent presidential candidate to submit approximately six times as many signatures as are needed for a ballot-qualified political party with its own primary.

The U.S. Supreme Court hasn’t accepted a ballot access appeal brought to it by a minor party or independent candidate since 1991, when it did hear the Illinois case brought by the Harold Washington Party. It is true that the Court did hear a challenge to Georgia’s law mandating that candidates for state office be tested for illegal drugs, in 1996, but that was about candidate qualifications to hold the office, not ballot access per se.

No independent presidential petition has succeeded in Hawaii since 1992.

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FOX: Ralph Nader Denied at Supreme Court