Judge: Ed Martin lawsuit indeed a nuisance

Ed Martin's self-described nuisance lawsuit against the Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, Attorney General Chris Koster and State Auditor Susan Montee was dealt a serious setback today. 

Looking at the claims of Martin and the other plaintiffs, Cole County Circuit Court Judge Patricia Joyce dismissed the legal challenges to Carnahan's ballot summary, and declared the language put forward by the Secretary of State's office "promoted an informed understanding of the probable effect of the proposed initiative petition."

Here is Judge Joyce's conclusion:

Plaintiffs do not write summary statements; Defendant Carnahan, in her official capacity as Secretary of State, does.  Plaintiffs' exercise in repeatedly challenging Secretary of State Carnahan's summary statement as compared to language they prefer is a misapplication of the standards by which the sufficiency and fairness of a summary statement is determined. The important and only test is whether the language fairly and impartially summarizes the purposes of the measure, so that the voters will not be deceived or misled. The Secretary of State prepared a summary statement that is fair and sufficient as it promoted an informed understanding of the probable effect of the proposed initiative petition. For this reason, and the analysis already discussed above, Plaintiffs have failed to carry their burden of showing that Secretary of State Carnahan's summary statement is insufficient or unfair. [Judge Patricia Joyce's Order and Judgment can be found here.]

Furthermore, Judge Joyce wrote that "it is not the Secretary of State's job to simply mimic the language of the proponents or opponents," ignoring of Martin's "evidence" from his Republican pollster entirely.  Martin and the Roundtable "misapprehend and misapply the relevant legal standard" when they whine about the word "illegal" and demand that the summary use "unlawful" (a very real whine from Martin's suit). In fact, Joyce wrote that the SOS ballot language is "more informative," and that what Martin wanted.

Finally, Joyce supported the Secretary of State's language to inform voters that Martin's constitutional amendment would prohibit abortions "including those necessary to save the life of the mother" -- because that's what Martin's initiative would do.  The Roundtable asked the judge to strike this politically inconvenient reality from the summary, and she refused.