There’s a major caveat to Friday’s blockbuster injunction, Save Jerseyans:
One day later, on Saturday, federal U.S. District Court Judge Zahid Quraishi clarified that his injunction restraining counties from implementing organizational lines in the June 2023 primary applies only to Democrats.
“This court declines to extend the scope of its decision beyond the limitations of the present litigation,” Quraishi explained in his latest order. “Nonetheless, nothing in this court’s March 29, 2024 Order prevents the Republican Party and its leadership from appreciating this Court’s preliminary injunction and taking steps to amend the ballot system for its primary election similar to what this court has ordered for the Democratic Primary.”
Quraishi’s ruling resulted from a Morris County GOP letter asking for clarification as to whether the injunction applied to only Democrats or both parties. Injunctions generally seek narrow relief relating to a particular action or actors and alleged harm which would be suffered by the moving party if relief isn’t granted pending further order of the court. U.S. Senate candidate Andy Kim and his fellow petitioners who launched a formal challenge to the line are Democrats; since Republicans weren’t seeking the injunction, the injunction only applies to the 2024 Democrat Primary Election.
This doesn’t mean Republicans are off the hook if a federal court ultimately decides that lines are unconstitutional, but a decision on that front is unlikely to materialize prior to the June 2024 primary contest.
