NY Ban on ‘Independence’ in Party Names Can Proceed, for Now

The New York State Board of Elections can ban former Gibson Dunn partner Jim Walden from running for New York City mayor under his proposed “Independence Party,” a Brooklyn federal judge ruled.

Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall of the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York refused to issue a preliminary injunction preventing the board from banning the use of the word “independence” from Walden’s party name.

The board’s ban doesn’t infringe on Walden’s First Amendment rights, and it reasonably advances the state’s “important interest in preventing voter confusion,” Hall wrote in her April 4 opinion.

Walden ...