9th Circuit Requires Bilingual Publication of Recall Petitions — Are Initiatives And Referendum Next?
On November 23, a three-judge panel of the federal 9th Circuit Court of Appeal came down with a doosy of a ruling that has the potential to confuse and hamstring the already complex initiative and referendum process. The ruling, Padilla v. Lever, 2005 U.S. App. LEXIS 25254 (9th Cir. 2005), relates to the 2002 recall of Santa Ana Unified School District Trustee Nativo Lopez. No doubt, many FlashReport readers who are in tune with OC politics are familiar with Lopez’s long-standing activism in the Latino community and are familiar with the reasons leading to his recall. However, those issues were not relevant to the ruling, which deals exclusively with the application of federal law to the recall petition process contained in the California Elections Code.
At issue in Padilla was whether the notice of intention and the recall petitions prepared by recall proponents was required to comply with provisions of the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965 (the "VRA"). Specifically, section 203 of the VRA requires that certain "covered jurisdictions" must "provide . . . materials or information relating to the… Read More