A Federal Judge in Nevada has rejected a challenge by the state’s teachers union to a Democratic Party plan that allows worker’s in Las Vegas’s casino to participate in Saturday’s caucuses without leaving work:
LAS VEGAS (AP) - Democrats with ties to Hillary Rodham Clinton failed in court Thursday to prevent casino workers from caucusing at special precincts in Nevada.
The ruling by U.S. District Court Judge James Mahan was presumed to be a boost for Clinton rival Barack Obama in the Democratic presidential caucuses Saturday because he has been endorsed by the union representing many of the shift workers who will be able to use the precincts on the Las Vegas strip.
“State Democrats have a First Amendment right to association, to assemble and to set their own rules,” Mahan said.
(…)
The suit contended party rules allowing the precincts gave too much power to the casino workers and violated federal equal protection guarantees.
But the judge said, “We aren’t voting here, we’re caucusing. That’s something that parties decide.”
He said it is “up to the national party and the state party to promulgate these rules and enforce them.”
The correct decision, it would seem. The Federal Government should not get involved in the internal governance of political parties.
Whether this will help Obama on Saturday remains to be seen.
February 29th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
[...] recall that they engaged surrogates to try to do the same thing in Nevada last month. I would think that any similar challenge in Texas would suffer the same [...]