Oregon can continue to bar 10 lawmakers (nine Republicans, one independent) from running for reelection this year after boycotting six weeks of the legislative session.
A request by three Republicans to have their names restored to the ballot was rejected by a federal judge late Wednesday. However, a separate hearing by the Oregon Supreme Court is scheduled today, according to the Oregon Capital Chronicle:
U.S. District Court Judge Ann Aiken's ruling denying a preliminary injunction came less than a day before the Oregon Supreme Court was scheduled to hear oral arguments in a separate state case involving senators who want to run for reelection despite a voter-approved law that sought to punish lawmakers who participate in walkouts. Oregon's unusually high quorum requirements – two-thirds of representatives or senators must be present for the House or Senate to do business – give Republicans in the minority power to stop, or at least delay, bills supported by Democrats.
“The court cannot conclude that it would be in the public interest to grant the requested injunction to allow the senator plaintiffs to effectively negate a lawfully enacted measure,” Aiken wrote.
An attorney for state Sens. Brian Boquist, Cedric Hayden, Dennis Linthicum and the Republican voters and county central committees who filed the case wasn't immediately available for comment.
The federal case can move forward despite Aiken's ruling denying a preliminary injunction, but she indicated that she doesn't believe the plaintiffs will succeed in proving their claim that walking out was constitutionally protected free speech.
In August, Oregon Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade (D) declared that Republican representatives who absconded to prevent Democrats from enacting their agenda had violated Measure 113, also known as the Exclusion from Re-election for Legislative Absenteeism Initiative. According to the measure, any member of the legislature who receives 10 or more unexcused absences during a legislative session is disqualified from being reelected. Measure 113 was approved by 68% of voters during the 2022 midterm election.
“It is clear voters intended Measure 113 to disqualify legislators from running for reelection” to a term immediately following the one in which they have 10 or more unexcused absences,” Griffin-Valade said at the time. “My decision honors the voters' intent by enforcing the measure the way it was commonly understood when Oregonians added it to our state constitution.”
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