The Ron Paul Grassroots "Delegate Lawsuit" Tossed, New Version Filed

The lawsuit filed by a Ron Paul grassroots activist lawyer charging the Republican National Committee (RNC) with various shenanigans against Ron Paul delegates and calling for the RNC to admit that no delegate is bound to vote for Romney was dismissed by U.S. District Judge David Carter this week. 

Carter's order to dismiss.

Some relevant language from the order explaining why the Judge didn't think the suit worth going forward:

For example, Plaintiffs' vague reference to "State Bylaws" gives this Court no inkling as to which of the 50 states and which of the millions of pages of bylaws Plaintiffs refer. Similarly, Plaintiffs' use of the passive voice renders it impossible to discern who broke the bones of whom, who pointed a gun at whom, and whether any of the more than 100 Defendants were even involved. Finally, Plaintiffs' vague allegations of voting ballot fraud occurring somewhere at sometime and apparently committed simultaneously by all "Defendants" lacks plausibility. While Plaintiffs make an oblique reference to a voting machine somewhere in Arizona, the lack of clarity in this allegation is insufficient to raise it to a level above mere speculation.Thus, this Court does not accept these allegations as true.

I wrote about that suit both right here at Reason and in the New York Times back in June.

The Paul campaign itself never embraced the suit or supported it--though Ron Paul himself didn't choose to condemn it either. Richard Gilbert, the lawyer who filed it, was ferocious in his insistence it was for the good of the delegates, and the honesty of the Republican primary and caucus process.  

From my Reason piece in June:

A press release from Gilbert's group "Lawyers for Ron Paul" claims Paul supporters have launched a "takeover of the campaign. Refusing to be sold downstream for political or monetary gain the REAL Ron Paul R3volution without reservation is 'in it to win it!'"…..

"As we watched people being violently beaten at state conventions, voting machines being rigged, ballots being falsely counted from state to state," Gilbert says, "we observed the Romney machine was nothing more than a crime syndicate committing fraud at every state convention." While surprised the Paul campaign did not stand up for itself, he says, "I want to say I don't represent the campaign and I don't represent Dr. Paul. I represent the delegates."

Gilbert is not giving up, and has filed another amended version of his suit, which attempts to get the court to decide whether the federal Voting Rights Act applies to voting at the RNC in Tampa, which Gilbert is trying to have defined as a "federal election" under that law.

If that is so, and if the Voting Rights Act applies to it, if I understand the complaint correctly, Gilbert is claiming any attempt to bind delegates to vote for Romney should be illegitimate.

The order to dismiss and amended complaint via "The Unconventional Conservative."