The Republican Party of Texas had better hope for a favorable outcome from their appeal of Judge Sparks' ruling in the DeLay ballot replacement lawsuit, because DeLay himself says he can't be the candidate.
Today on Fox, DeLay was asked by Neil Cavuto if he still had a chance to win the election. DeLay said, "I cannot run for office [in Texas]" because "I'm ineligible."DeLay also trashed the federal district court decision as "a policy statement instead of a ruling" and expressed confidence that the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals would "turn it around." Election Law blog explains that the ruling is on soild constitutional ground and argues that "there is good chance this opinion is upheld on appeal."
Transcript:
CAVUTO: I've noticed now a judge has ruled you're still on the ballot, so you could conceivably still win this thing. What's the deal?DELAY: Well, we had a Democrat federal judge make a policy statement instead of a ruling. I think the Fifth Circuit will look at the law, look at the constitution and understand that the voters of the 22nd district need a choice. I'm a resident of Virginia. I live in Virginia. I'm working in Virginia and Washington, DC. I've established a legal defense fund, a speakers bureau. I'm even working on a book and working with conservative groups. I'm making my living in Washington, DC, so by the Constitution, I cannot run for office and I'm ineligible. So I don't know what this judge is doing, but I think the Fifth Circuit will turn it around.
I haven't seen it hit the news wires yet, but according to Vince, the Fifth Circuit has agreed to hear the expedited appeal. He's got a press release from RPT attorney James Bopp on the subject. Fort Bend Now has some more on this topic as well. Stay tuned.
UPDATE: SCOTUSblog has more.
Posted by Charles Kuffner on July 13, 2006 to Election 2006 | TrackBackI'd assumed that Judge Sparks was a Republican, and that DeLay was wrong in that Fox interview, where he calls him a "Democrat federal judge." But it turns out Judge Sparks was a Democrat when George H.W. Bush appointed him to the bench.
There's a nice bio of Judge Sparks online, written in 2005, which talks about his great reputation for fairness and for following the law.
http://www.goodlifemag.com/archives/11-05/11-05_sparks.htm
Of course, Mr. DeLay does not appear to want a fair judge who follows the law.
Posted by: Jeff N. on July 13, 2006 6:08 PMWhatever will DeLay say if the Fifth Circuit upholds Judge Sparks?
That's easy -- he'll say if the Dems and courts say he must run, then he will.
Posted by: kevin whited on July 13, 2006 9:23 PMIt appears that DeLay himself is not too familiar with the details of Judge Sparks' ruling. Perhaps his attorney did not read it to him. The entire decision turned on the constitutional question of where the candidate lives on election day, not at present.
Posted by: Dennis on July 14, 2006 2:44 AM