Posted 5:40 PM by Robert

Davis Descending XXXIX: Dithering's End

The last serious legal challenge to the October recall has now been put to rest:

A panel of federal judges said Friday it would not postpone California's gubernatorial recall vote, removing one of the last legal barriers to the Oct. 7 election. The decision came the morning after the U.S. Justice Department made a formal determination that Monterey County's hurriedly assembled balloting plans for the election to unseat Gov. Gray Davis did not constitute a violation of the federal Voting Rights Act.

However, the Ninth Circuit (Harry Pregerson, Richard Paez, and Sidney Thomas) has still to rule on the ACLU's challenge. This challenge is utterly without legal merit, but in the hands of this Ninth Circuit panel the situation may be roughly compared to a wait outside the classroom where one knows a loaded pistol has been left on the kindergarden table. Oral argument is 10 am September 11 in Pasadena.