The Term Limits Lawsuit

2008-11-10 Term Limits Federal Complaint

Here’s the lawsuit being filed later today in a federal court in Brooklyn to block Michael Bloomberg and the City Council from extending term limits.

The plaintiffs included well-known critics like Guy Molinari, Bill Thompson, Betsy Gotbaum, Bill de Blasio and Letitia James, as well as anti-development activist Phil de Paolo, state Conservative Party Chairman Mike Long and a few prospective 2009 candidates including Ken Diamondstone, Ari Hoffnung, Alfonso Quiroz, and Jo Anne Simon.

The lawsuit says, “Allowing a self-interested Mayor and City Council to dismiss the results of two recent referenda undermines the integrity of the voting process, effectively nullifies the constitutionally-protected right to vote, and perniciously chills political speech by sending the unavoidable message that the democratic exercises of initiatives and referenda can be disregarded by public officials, in violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States."