In July, California governor Gavin Newsom signed a law that requires any presidential candidate seeking a spot on the California primary ballot to release five years’ worth of Internal Revenue Service filings. A federal judge recently gave an order to block the new law from going into effect. The judge takes issue with the law’s constitutionality, writing that “allowing individual states to potentially adopt disparate and inconsistent qualifications for presidential primary candidates tramples the framers’ vision of having uniform standards for the qualifications of those individuals running for president.”
University of Illinois College of Law dean and constitutional law scholar Vikram Amar disagrees with the rationale of the federal judge.
“It reflects a failure to understand that the Constitution, under Article II, leaves presidential selection procedures to the states,” Amar said. “That is why cases largely relied on by the judge’s opinion involving congressional elections and congressional candidates are beside the point.”
Read the full article at latimes.com.