Challenge to release of petition signers’ names is moot
OLYMPIA, Wash. — A federal appeals panel has rejected a challenge to Washington state’s policy allowing the release of signature petitions on initiatives and referendums. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the issue was moot, since the state released the signatures last year.
The three-judge panel’s Oct. 23 ruling in Doe #1 v. Reed is the latest in a long-running case over the public release of signatures submitted for 2009′s Referendum 71. Voters approved R-71, upholding the state’s so-called “everything by marriage” expansion to the state’s domestic-partnership law.
Opponents of the expansion, who had gathered the signatures to get R-71 on the ballot, had said people would be subject to harassment if the signatures were released.
In 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court, in an 8-1 ruling, said the policy allowing signatures to be released did not infringe on First Amendment rights but said that opponents could file an “as-applied” challenge on a particular measure, which is how the case ended up back before the 9th Circuit.
The 9th Circuit noted in this week’s ruling that the names of petition signers could be found on the Internet.
Previous: Wash. releases anti-gay rights petitions — with names of signers
Tags: ballot initiative, petition, public records, Washington
The First Amendment Center is an educational organization and cannot provide legal advice.
Ken Paulson is president and chief executive officer of the First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University and in Washington, D.C. Previously, Paulson served as the editor and senior vice president/news of USA Today.
Gene Policinski, senior vice president and executive director of the First Amendment Center and president and chief operating officer of the Diversity Institute, is a veteran journalist whose career has included work in newspapers, radio, television and online.
John Seigenthaler founded the First Amendment Center in 1991 with the mission of creating national discussion, dialogue and debate about First Amendment rights and values.
Dr. Charles C. Haynes is director of the Religious Freedom Education Project at the Newseum. He writes and speaks extensively on religious liberty and religion in American public life.
David L. Hudson Jr. is an expert in First Amendment issues who writes for firstamendmentcenter.org and for other publications. Hudson teaches law and was a scholar at the First Amendment Center.
Tiffany Villager is director/First Amendment studies at the First Amendment Center, which she joined in 1993. She also served as the center’s research manager and research coordinator, and developed the center’s library.
