A hearing on two motions to dismiss our suit without a trial will be held on Monday, June 10, 2013 at 9:00am. The address is 1221 Oak Street, Department 16, in Oakland ( MAP ).

The requests to dismiss the suit (the technical name is “demurrer”) were filed on March 11 by defendant Secretary of State Debra Bowen and by a group of intervenors in the case led by former Lt. Governor Abel Maldonado. We filed our reply on May 21. All of the documents are linked here.

On Friday, June 7, Judge Lawrence John Appel issued this tentative ruling denying the request to dismiss with respect to our ballot access claim, and granting the request to dismiss with respect to our equal protection claim. The tentative ruling means that a trial is needed to judge the ballot access claim. For an analysis of the tentative ruling, see Ballot Access News.

The hearing on Monday morning is an important one. This is an opportunity for the other side to persuade the judge to change his mind (and for our side to persuade him that his tentative ruling should stand). Those in the Bay Area should attend if they possibly can.

The trial itself is tentatively scheduled to start on February 18, 2014.

Since court dates are frequently changed at the last minute, please check this site for updates.