This was the most recent update I found, about a week after the stories about the lawsuit being filed.
Mike Collier
Collier filed a federal lawsuit challenging the state’s ballot access laws. He argues they violate the constitutional rights of independent candidates and voters.
No date has been set yet, though. While Collier’s lawyers are confident the issue will be dealt with in a timely manner, if the court does not rule in his favor, Collier will not be on the ballot.
And the due date for the signatures is Thursday, June 25.
“I can tell you that the Constitution doesn’t say anything about signatures to get on the ballot, neither the U.S. Constitution nor the state Constitution. This requirement, which is too hard to meet, is a construct of the legislature,” Collier said. “I have a constitutional right to run for office. Jason, you have a constitutional right to have choices and to vote as you see fit.”
Collier is also challenging a provision that prohibits Texans who vote in a primary from signing an independent candidate’s ballot petition.
See here for the background. The main lesson here is that the federal courts do not move quickly. We’re six weeks or so from federal and state deadlines about when ballots must be printed and sent to overseas voters, so who knows whether there will even be the opportunity for there to be a ruling in time for this election. If there is, then the possible remedy of giving Collier more time to collect signatures is going to be moot soon. Maybe that makes putting him on the ballot as a remedy if he succeeds on one or more of his complaints more likely, and maybe it makes a remedy of “this law is invalidated for the 2028 filing period” more likely, who knows. And that presumes he does prevail – which I do think he should on the “less time to collect signatures for races where there was a runoff” question – on at least one issue. All I can say right now is that the clock is ticking.
UPDATE: As noted in the comments, Collier filed a motion for a preliminary injunction on June 26. Still no word about this being on a court calendar. (Correction made, I originally said June 25 for the filing date.)
Hi Charles,
The clock is most definitely clicking. In case you hadn’t seen, there was also a motion for preliminary injunction filed on 6/26.
https://ballot-access.org/2026/06/26/michael-collier-files-brief-in-texas-ballot-access-case/
***correction “filed 6/25” the ballot access news post is from 6/26