Legal News

Dennis Kucinich and Willie Nelson Sent On The Road Again

By Nathan Koppel

The powerhouse litigation tandem of Congressman Dennis Kucinich and Willie Nelson has suffered a setback at the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

The court on Tuesday rejected the duo's First Amendment suit against the Texas Democratic Party.

Here's the opinion, which lays out the back story. The Texas Democratic Party requires presidential candidates to execute a loyalty oath if they want their names added to the party's primary ballot. The candidate must swear to "fully support the Democratic nominee for president whoever that shall be." But Kucinich declined the oath, stating he could not agree to support a nominee who employed war as an instrument of foreign policy.

The party kept Kucinich off the ballot, so he fired back with a suit claiming his free-speech rights had been violated. Nelson, a political backer, jumped on board.

After losses in lower courts, Kucinich/Nelson were sent on the road again by the Fifth Cir., which held that the oath is constitutional. "How a candidate complies with the oath is up to him," the majority reasoned. A candidate, for example, could support the nominee, but still "criticize some of the nominee's positions." Also, the court pointed out, "the oath is legally unenforceable, [since a candidate] may repudiate it, at the risk of losing party member's support."

That last argument strikes us ─ constitutional lightweights, though we may be ─ as sort of strange. Don't worry about any constitutional problems, the court seems to say, the oath is not worth the paper it's written on.

The particulars of when and how Sir Willie got involved in the suit are unclear, but here's a You Tube clip of the country legend performing at a Kucinich campaign stop. Nelson tells the audience he favors Kucinich, because of his pro-farmer and anti-Iraq stands.

But we have to imagine that Willie, a renowned herbivore, also favors Kucinich's call to decriminalize pot. Here's an excerpt from a Kucinich speech on the topic:

“Most marijuana users do so responsibly, in a safe, recreational context. These people lead normal, productive lives — pursuing careers, raising families, and participating in civic life.”

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on March 27, 2009 (boomark / email).