Election Law

Kanye West And The Legal Battle Over 14 Seconds

Well, it's 5 o'clock somewhere...

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(Photo by Oliver Contreras – Pool/Getty Images)

If you thought the legal intrigue over the presidential candidacy of Kanye West reached its apex when it was revealed a Biglaw attorney worked for both his campaign and the Trump reelection campaign, you were mistaken. Though Husch Blackwell attorney Lane Ruhland did her best to get West on the ballot in Wisconsin, there are now legal challenges the campaign must hurdle.

The most ticky-tack (which is how lawyers say “petty”) argument against the West campaign is that they turned in the paperwork in late — at 5:00:14, when the state law says that the filing needs to be made “not later” than 5 p.m. So, yes, the electoral college battle for Wisconsin may well hinge on 14 seconds.

As reported by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the campaign’s response, filed by Michael Curran, argues it depends on what your definition of 5 p.m. is:

“For the average observer, arriving before 5:01 p.m. is arriving ‘not later’ than 5 p.m. The phrase ‘not later’ is particularly instructive in that it indicates the presumption that the seconds from 5:00:00 to 5:00:59 are inclusive to 5 p.m. As the statute states ‘5 p.m.,’ for something to be filed later than ‘5 p.m.’ it would have to be filed at 5:01 p.m.”

At least they didn’t argue that it’s 5 p.m. somewhere, so YOLO.

Curran further argues, that even if the filing was late, it isn’t the fault of the campaign:

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“Even assuming filing was not timely to begin with, the Commission should find that the nomination paperwork was timely filed here due to the locking of the Commission’s doors as well as the interference of the media and a rival campaign,” Curran wrote.

Oh wait, there’s more:

“People of color have long been marginalized in this country,” Curran wrote. “In seeking to remove Kanye West from the ballot and silence the voices of those who signed to place him, the Complainants are continuing this marginalization simply because Mr. West’s views and perspectives on issues do not conform with theirs and those of the Party they represent.”

In Wisconsin, Curran wrote, Democratic operatives have made “shameful threats against his supporters and an organized effort of harassment and intimidation.”

That sound you hear is good-faith complaints about racial injustice being set back.

The West campaign also faces a challenge that the signatures submitted were fraudulent:

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The challenges also suggest there are numerous problems with West’s nomination papers, including incorrect addresses for circulators and bogus signatures, such as “Mickey Mouse” and “Bernie Sanders.” The Democratic Party’s complaint included affidavits from six individuals who said they were duped into putting their names on West’s paperwork.

Curran’s response also addresses to those challenges, saying there is “little or no supporting evidence [of fraudulent signature, and] should be dismissed.”

headshotKathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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