Republicans Lose Court Case

Because of two separate legal rulings Monday, New Jersey Democrats will be able to replace Sen. Robert Torricelli with former Sen. Frank Lautenberg on the Nov. 5 ballot.

The U.S. Supreme Court refused Monday to be drawn into an election fight that resurrected memories of the court's contentious intervention in the presidential election two years ago.

And in a separate ruling, a federal judge in Trenton refused to get embroiled in a GOP challenge to absentee ballots.

Republicans had filed suit in Trenton on behalf of two out-of-state voters who cast ballots before Torricelli withdrew one week ago. But the judge agreed with Democrats, who said the matter is best handled by the state judge who is implementing last week's state Supreme Court decision dropping Robert Torricelli from the ballot.

New Jersey Republicans had called the switch a political ploy intended to dump a candidate who seemed sure to lose in favor of a potential winner.

They had asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the Democrats, arguing that the candidate swap came too close to Election Day.

The high court did not explain its reasons for rejecting the GOP appeal.

The Republicans appealed to the high court last Thursday, arguing that the candidate swap was both illegal and unconstitutional. State law prevents such an 11th hour switch, and it could strip voting rights from absentee and overseas voters, the GOP argued.

About 1,700 absentee and overseas military ballots have already been mailed with Torricelli's name on them.

If the state ruling stood, "political parties will be encouraged to withdraw losing candidates on the eve of election, replacing them with candidates who have not gone through the rigors of the nomination process in hopes of snatching victory from the jaws of defeat," Republicans argued to the justices in a court filing last Thursday.

There was plenty of time to reprint ballots, Democrats assured the Supreme Court in paperwork filed Friday.

Article continues below

---

advertisement

---

Author: Copyright 2002 by NBC 10. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.