Another victory for those of us who believe residency laws violate the First Amendment!

In a case brought by Ralph Nader, the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Oct. 29th that former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell violated Nader’s First Amendment rights by taking his name off the ballot in 2004 for failing to collect enough valid signatures.

Blackwell removed Nader from the ballot because of a state law that requires petition circulators to be Ohio residents and registered voters. Nader argued the law was an unconstitutional restriction of his political speech.

A panel of 6th Circuit judges voted 3-0 to declare the Ohio law unconstitutional.

“It is indisputable that Blackwell’s conduct sharply limited Nader’s ability to convey his message to Ohio voters and thereby curtailed Nader’s core political speech,” wrote Chief Judge Danny Boggs, who was joined in the decision by judges Karen Nelson Moore and Eric Clay.

“This makes it clear that Ohio’s law is just unenforceable,” Mark Brown, Nader’s attorney, said. “This is vindication.”

According to our friends at Ballot Access News,

Today’s decision explicitly says that even if Ohio were to amend its law and say that only residents may circulate, that would be as unconstitutional as saying only registered voters may circulate. The decision says on page 14, “No case has been put forward in this litigation as to a compelling state interest in permitting unregistered Ohioans to circulate petitions but not unregistered citizens of other states.”

The ruling helps sets the stage for a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on residency laws. Three other federal appeals courts have recently ruled on residency requirements, with two finding them unconstitutional and one upholding the restrictions.