On September 18, the Massachusetts Libertarian Party won its 2008 case on presidential substitution. The decision was not surprising, because the same court had granted injunctive relief last year. The issue is whether an unqualified party can use a stand-in presidential candidate on its petition, if it is circulating its petition before it knows who its actual presidential candidate will be. The decision is 13 pages long and says, “”Such a right to substitute is guaranteed by the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution to ensure that the names of the actual candidates appear on the ballot.” The case is Barr v Galvan, civ. 08-11340-NMG. It is not known if the state will appeal to the First Circuit.
The Equal Protection Clause is relevant because Massachusetts, and all states, lets qualified parties substitute a new nominee for President or Vice-President if the original nominee withdraws before the ballots are printed. For example, in July 1972, the Democratic National Convention chose Thomas Eagleton for vice-president, and his name was certified to the elections officials of all states. In August 1972, Eagleton resigned from the ticket, and the Democratic Party replaced him with R. Sargent Shriver. All states printed Shriver’s name on the ballot (except for Arizona and North Dakota, the two states that never print any vice-presidential nominees on general election ballots).