John Conyers ballot qualification dispute
On May 23, 2014, Leitman ruled that Congressman John Conyers (D-MI 13th) could remain on the election ballot despite a dispute over the validity of signatures on his nominating petition.
Michigan election law requires at least 1,000 signatures of registered voters for a candidate to be included on a ballot; Conyers submitted 2,000 signatures, but most were ruled invalid by a county judge on the grounds that they were not collected by registered voters as required by law.
The constitutionality of this signature-gathering requirement was challenged in a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union, and Leitman issued an injunction ordering that Conyers be put back on the ballot, finding that plaintiffs “have shown a substantial likelihood of success” and “time is of the essence”.