Posted on 12/16/2004 12:53:58 PM PST by hankbrown
The Ohio Supreme Court has tossed the Bush election challenge filed by that Arnebeck person. Read it here.
I hear the lamentations and wailing now.
Mass Suicide at DummyLand.
LOL! Couldn't be more true.
Ping! Your DUmmie Ant Farm may just fall off the mantle on this one.
Did the Court break for the Holiday after the ruling?
Applicable to the complainers as well.
"Game over, man! Game over!"
Dismissed the case without prejudice because they tried to challenge multiple elections in one suit (US Pres and Ohio Sup. Ct. Chief Justice). You can bet they'll refile and challenge only the US Pres election.
Losers...
How pathetic.
Quote from DUmmie bmoney07 re: Ohio decision:
"14. I can't understand - me stupid, please explain?"
Says it all.
they can refile as separate cases. It's "without prejudice". the benefit is that they've wasted a lot of time, and their stuck with this judge the next time around (does not have to recuse himself)
[Cite as Moss v. Bush, __ Ohio St.3d ___, 2004-Ohio-6792.]
SUBJECT TO FURTHER EDITING
This opinion is SUBJECT TO FURTHER EDITING. It has been posted to
the Website of the Supreme Court of Ohio as a manuscript document in the
interest of disseminating it to the public on an expedited basis. This document
will be replaced with the final version when the final version becomes available.
MOSS ET AL. V. BUSH ET AL.
[Cite as Moss v. Bush, _____ Ohio St.3d ___, 2004-Ohio-6792.]
(No. 2004-2055 Submitted December 14, 2004 Decided December 16,
2004.)
Election contests R.C. 3515.08 Petition to contest election may not challenge
more than one election.
ON PETITION TO CONTEST ELECTIONS.
__________________
MOYER, C.J.
{¶ 1} Contestors, various Ohio residents who allegedly voted in the
November 2, 2004 elections for President and Vice-President of the United States
and for Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Ohio, have filed a petition
challenging the certified results of both elections. The named contestees are
President George W. Bush, Vice-President Richard B. Cheney, Bush-Cheney 04,
Inc., Karl Rove, various Bush-Cheney electors, Ohio Secretary of State J.
Kenneth Blackwell, and Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer.
The contestors allege that claimed voting irregularities are sufficient to change the
outcomes of both the presidential and chief justice elections or, in the alternative,
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO
2
to make the result of both elections uncertain so as to warrant setting aside the
elections.
{¶ 2} The cause is partially before me pursuant to the authority granted
by R.C. 3515.08, which provides:
{¶ 3} In the case of an office to be filled or an issue to be determined by
the voters of the entire state, * * * [an election] contest shall be heard and
determined by the chief justice of the supreme court or a justice of the supreme
court assigned for that purpose by the chief justice; except that in a contest for the
office of chief justice of the supreme court, such contest shall be heard by a
justice of such court designated by the governor.
{¶ 4} On December 14, 2004, Governor Bob Taft designated Justice
Maureen OConnor to hear that part of the petition constituting a contest of the
November 2, 2004 election involving the office of Chief Justice.
{¶ 5} Nothing in the pertinent election-contest statutes or case law
construing R.C. 3515.08 permits contesting more than one election in one case.
In fact, the statutes contemplate that an election-contest case will challenge only
one election. For instance, R.C. 3515.09 provides that [a] contest of election
shall be commenced by the filing of a petition with the clerk of the appropriate
court signed by at least twenty-five voters who voted at the last election for or
against a candidate for the office or for or against the issue being contested)
(emphasis added), and R.C. 3515.14 provides that the court shall dispose of an
election contest by pronouncing judgment as to which candidate (not
candidates) was elected.
{¶ 6} In adopting R.C. 3515.08 the General Assembly recognized that
election contests by their nature are not well suited to consolidation.
Consolidation of two election contestsone challenging the results of the
presidential election and one challenging the election of the Chief Justice
unnecessarily complicates the two contests procedurally. R.C. 3515.08 vests
January Term, 2004
3
responsibility for deciding the election contest concerning the presidential
election with the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Ohio. However, under the
statute, the Governor selects another justice to hear a contest of an election to the
office of Chief Justice of this court. Therefore, if this combined election-contest
case were to proceed as filed, two separate justices would be responsible for
presiding over two separate contests in one case. No words in the statute nor any
decision of a court of which I am aware supports a conclusion that the General
Assembly produced that result. Moreover, were this court to sanction
consolidation here it would establish a precedent whereby twenty-five voters
could challenge, in a single case, the election results of every statewide race and
issue on the ballot in any given election.
{¶ 7} As Chief Justice, I have statutory authority to determine only the
challenge filed by the contestors to the election of President and Vice-President.
No statute or case law authorizes the filing of multiple election contests in a single
case. The complaint is fatally defective. I therefore order that the contest of the
presidential election held on November 2, 2004, be dismissed without prejudice.
So ordered.
__________________
Clifford O. Arnebeck Jr., Robert J. Fitrakis, and Susan Truitt, for
contestors.
________________________
Rove strikes again-- Signed a socially misaligned DUer.
Stupid is as stupid does!
LOL...I see you are a LAC fan..love your screen name
Exactly. They had hoped that by combining the cases, the Chief Justice (a Republican) would have to step aside. Now, the Chief Justice will hear any case they refile.
Any odds that this elected Republican judge will overturn election results giving the Republican a win by 119,000 votes?
I'll give that dummyland poster credit, at least he/she admits their stupid...
Brilliant Strategery to sue the Chief Justice of the Court in which you are bringing the suit. These people are not only ignorant, they're also stupid. Bad Combination!!
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