Federal Judge Delays Release of R-71 Signers' , Gay Lobby Sues State to Keep Referendum Off Ballot

In a dance between federal and state courts, US District Court Judge Benjamin Settle has just announced that petitions for Referendum 71 will remain sealed until September 10, when he will make his final decision whether the names and addresses of people who signed should be made public. However, Judge Settle did release petitions to Washington Families Standing Together (WAFST), which, earlier this afternoon, filed a lawsuit in Thurston County Superior Court to challenge the validity of signatures that were accepted by elections officials.

[deeter1013]

This judge needs to be fired. What is up for discussion here?..It is the LAW that these peoples signatures are required to be released to the public.
they have already accepted fraudulent signatures, and now a FEDERAL judge is also ignoring the LAW!!!

clearly a fix.

keep this in court until they go broke fighting it.
If the judge ignores this law and allows petition signers to remain anonymous it will set forth a frightening precedence for all future voting and ballot issues.

[budinca]

deeter1013 wrote:

This judge needs to be fired. What is up for discussion here?..It is the LAW that these peoples signatures are required to be released to the public.
they have already accepted fraudulent signatures, and now a FEDERAL judge is also ignoring the LAW!!!
clearly a fix.
keep this in court until they go broke fighting it.
If the judge ignores this law and allows petition signers to remain anonymous it will set forth a frightening precedence for all future voting and ballot issues.

Federal judges are not bound by state law. A Federal judge has the power to overturn a state law. Also, a Federal judge is a judge for life and cannot be fired. He can be impeached by Congress for criminal acts or treason, but not for any legal decision he makes. His decision can be overturned by a higher Federal Court, including the Supreme Court.

I suggest that you study the U.S. Constitution before you make these statements.

[cockroach_sleepe r]

this smells of a activist judge to me. did you like that? i just used a christian cockroach phrase to describe the events of this story.

to my fellow gay u.s. citizens, buy a gun. protect your family and yourself from the christian cockroaches whose names are listed on the R-71 petitions.

cockroach = christian = terrorist
terrorist = christian = cockroach

[deeter1013]

cockroach_sleeper wrote:

this smells of a activist judge to me. did you like that? i just used a christian cockroach phrase to describe the events of this story.
to my fellow gay u.s. citizens, buy a gun. protect your family and yourself from the christian cockroaches whose names are listed on the R-71 petitions.
cockroach = christian = terrorist
terrorist = christian = cockroach

I bought my gun today.

I'm done with these fools.

[deeter1013]

lol....an ode to good old fred phelps..
ENJOY:

http://www.youtube.com/watch ...

[Rick in Kansas]

No real need to jump to paranoid conclusions just yet. The release of the signatures has only been held up until the federal judge makes his ruling in this case filed by the referendum's supporters sometime next week. There is NO precedent to support their argument and in fact, the precedent is dead set against them on this. The state has argued for their release and it would seem that in the likely event that the judge does rule in favor of the plaintiffs, the appeal would come quickly.

The good news here is that Judge Settle did release the signatures to WAFST, to use in their state court challenge to the validity of the of enough petition signatures and the process to verify them, in the hope of keeping the referendum off the ballot.

[rdg1234]

budinca wrote:

<quoted text>
Federal judges are not bound by state law. A Federal judge has the power to overturn a state law. Also, a Federal judge is a judge for life and cannot be fired. He can be impeached by Congress for criminal acts or treason, but not for any legal decision he makes. His decision can be overturned by a higher Federal Court, including the Supreme Court.
I suggest that you study the U.S. Constitution before you make these statements.

Why should the person bother? You just gave them all the information they needed.

Appended to your comment, not in response to it but as an addendum of sorts, if this judge does not release these names, I *sorely, vehemently* hope they take this to a higher court. I'm relatively sure they will; these people are in it for the long haul and they're *used to* viciously battling their opposition on every grounds conceivable. But I share the outrage of the poster to whom you replied: If these names are not released, if ultimately that secrecy prevails, I would suggest even louder and much farther-reaching national campaigns to bring this to the public's attention and do anything and everything either to force their release or *purposely, deliberately* use their non-release as an excuse in every other conceivable arena.

But all of what I just said is -- LOL -- how people normally do react and very likely how they will react; so I can only be glad that things will take the course I strongly feel is appropriate.

[Resist Ignorance]

Will Judge Settle start handing out white sheets and hoods next Thursday? Film at 11.:00.

[Shadow Dragon]

Resist Ignorance wrote:

Will Judge Settle start handing out white sheets and hoods next Thursday? Film at 11.:00.

LOL