Case No. 18-0712 Donal Blankenship, Et Al. V. Mac Warner

Case No. 18-0712 Donal Blankenship, Et Al. V. Mac Warner

DO NOT REMOVE fll£ COPY FROM HLE IN THE SUPREME COURT OF APPEALS OF WEST VIRGINIA No. 18-0712 ��fo��2 2o:·�l STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA, ex rel. ,,I EDYTHE NASH G.I\ISER, CLERK SUPRErt.E COURT OF APPEALs DONALD L. BLANKENSHIP, OF WESTVIRGINIA l!:!Jf •. �, . CANDIDATE FOR U.S. SENATE IN WEST VIRGINIA, and CONSTITUTION PARTY OF WESTVIRGINIA, Petitioners, v. MAC WARNER, IN HIS OFFICIAL CAPA CITY AS WEST VIRGINIA SECRETARY OF STATE Respondent. RESPONSE TO PETITION FOR WRIT OF MANDAMUS ON BEHALF OF MOVANT-INTERVENOR THE WEST VIRGINIA REPUBLICAN PARTY, INC. Elbert Lin (WVSB #12171) J. Mark Adkins (WVSB #7414) Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP Richard R. Heath, Jr. (WVSB #9067) Riverfront Plaza, East Tower Bowles Rice LLP 951 East Byrd Street 600 Quarrier Street (2530 1) Richmond, Virginia 23219 Post OfficeBox 1386 Telephone: (804) 788-7202 Charleston, West Virginia 25325-1386 Facsimile: (804) 788-8218 Telephone: (304) 347-1100 Email: [email protected] Facsimile: (304) 347-1756 Email: [email protected] [email protected] TABLE OF CONTENTS QUESTIONS PRESENTED ............................................................................................................1 INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................................1 STATEMENT OF THE CASE ........................................................................................................ 3 I. West Virginia's Two Paths To The Ballot.. ............................................................. 3 II. WestVirginia's Sore-Loser Laws ............................................................................4 III. The Secretary of State's Rejection of Mr. Blankenship's Application............................................................................................................... 5 SUMMARY OF ARGUMENT ....................................................................................................... 5 STATEMENT REGARDING ORAL ARGUMENT ......................................................................8 ARGUMENT ...................................................................................................................................8 I. WestVirginia's Sore-Loser Laws Are Constitutional. .... ........................................9 A. West Virginia's sore-loser laws do not impose a severe burden and are nondiscriminatory. ........................................... .................11 1. The sore-loser prohibitions impose only a minimal burden on both candidates and unrecognized parties .................................................................. ................. ..........11 2. WestVirginia's sore-loser laws do not improperly discriminate... ................................................................................. 15 B. The State has important interests that justify its sore-loser laws ............................................................................................................ 20 II. WestVirginia Code§ 3-5-23(g) Prohibits Mr. Blankenship's Nomination By the Constitution Party... ................................................................ 23 A. The amended sore-loser law merely clarifiedpreexisting law .............................................................................................................. 24 B. Application of the amended sore-loser law to Petitioners is not impermissibly retroactive . .............................................. ...................26 III. West Virginia Code§ 3-5-23(a) Prohibits Mr. Blankenship's Nomination ............................................................................................................ 29 A. The plain language of§ 3-5-23(a) bars unrecognized political parties from nominating sore-loser candidates . ...........................29 B. The title of the bill that enacted§ 3-5-23(a) passes constitutional muster. ................................................................................. 3 3 CONCLUSION ..............................................................................................................................39 11 TABLE OF AUTHORITIES Page(s) Cases ABKCO Music, Inc. v. La Vere, 217 F.3d 684 (9th Cir. 2000) ................................................................................................... 24 Anderson v. Celebrezze, 460 U.S. 780 (1983) .................................................................................... ................. .... passim Backus v. Sp ears, 677 F.2d 397 (4th Cir. 1982) ........................................................................................... 2, 9, 12 Bedfo rd Corp. v. Price 112 W.Va. 674, 166 S.E.2d 380 (1932) .................................................................................. 37 State ex rel. Billings v. City of Point Pleasant, 194 W.Va. 301, 460 S.E.2d 436 (1995) .................................................................................... 8 Brown v. Th ompson, 37 4 F .3d 253 (4th Cir. 2004) ................................................................................................... 24 State ex rel. Browne v. Hechler, 197 W.Va. 612, 476 S.E.2d 559 (1996) .................................................................................. 30 Bullock v. Carter, 405 U.S. 134 (1972) ...........................................................................................................11, 20 Burdick v. Takushi, 504 U.S. 428 (1992) ................................................... ........ ............................................ passim C. C. Sp ike Copley Garage, In c. v. Pub. Serv. Com 'n of W Va ., 171 W.Va. 489, 300 S.E.2d 485 (1983) .................................................................................. 36 Campbell v. Kelly, 157 W.Va. 453, 202 S.E.2d 369 (1974) .................................................................................. 34 City of Wheeling ex rel. Carter v. Am. Cas. Co., 131 W.Va. 584,48 S.E.2d 404 (1948) .............................................................................. 34, 35 City of Huntington v. Chesapeake & Potomac Tel. Co., 154 W.Va. 634, 177 S.E.2d 591 (1970) .................................................................................. 34 Clingman v. Beaver, 544 U.S. 581 (2005) ............................ ............................................................................. passim 111 Coal & Coke Ry. Co. v. Conley, 67 W. Va. 129,67 S.E. 613 (1910) ..........................................................................................25 Cookeville Reg'! Med. Ctr. v. Leavitt, 531 F.3d 844 (D.C. Cir. 2008) .................................................................................................24 Council of Alternative Political Parties v. Ho oks, 179 F.3d 64 (3d Cir. 1999).................................. ...............................................................14, 17 Crawfo rd v. Ma rion CountyElection Bd. , 553 U.S. 181 (2008) .................................................................................................................14 Crawfo rd v. Parsons, 141 W. Va. 752,92 S.E.2d 913 (1956) ....................................................................................34 Dale v. Painter, 234 W. Va. 343,765 S.E.2d 232 (2014) ..................................................................................30 Daly v. Tennant, 216 F. Supp. 3d 699 (2016) .....................................................................................................18 Davis Mem 'l Hasp. v. W Virginia State Tax Com 'r, 222 W. Va. 677, 671 S.E.2d 682 (2008) ..................................................................................29 State ex ref. Davis v. Oakley, 156 W. Va. 154, 191 S.E.2d 610 (1972) ............................................................................ 36, 38 De la Fuente v. Merrill, 214 F. Supp. 3d 1241 (M.D. Ala. 2016) .................................................................. 9,10, 12, 19 State ex rel. Dyer v. Sims, 134 W. Va. 278,58 S.E.2d 766 (1950) ....................................................................................34 Eu v. San Francisco Cty. Democratic Cent. Comm., 489 U.S. 214 (1989) .................................................................................................................13 In re Fahey, 779 F.3d 1 (1st Cir. 20 15) ........................................................................................................26 State ex ref. Graney v. Sims, 144 W. Va. 72,105 S.E.2d 886 (1958) ................................................................................... 34 Jenness v. Fortson, 403 U.S. 431 (1971) .....................................................................................................15, 18, 19 Landgraf v. US! Film Prods., 511 U.S. 244 (1994) .....................................................................................................25, 27, 28 lV Leshinskyv. Te lvent GIT, SA., 873 F. Supp. 2d 582 (S.D.N.Y. 2012) ...................................................................................... 25 Levy v. Sterling Holding Co., LLC, 544 F.3d 493 (3d Cir. 2008) ..................................................................................................... 24 Libertarian Party of Mich. v. Johnson, 905 F. Supp. 2d 751 (E.D. Mich. 2012) ............................................................................... 9, 12 Linger v. Jennings, 143 W. Va. 57,99 S.E.2d 740 (1957) ...............................................................................

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