Plaintiffs Want Tuberville Residency Case Fast Tracked

With Alabama fast approaching next month's deadline to certify party nominees for November's General Election, plaintiffs in the lawsuit questioning the residency of Republican gubernatorial nominee Tommy Tuberville want their appeal of a lower court dismissal order expedited by the state supreme court.

Yesterday, attorneys for plaintiffs Brook Lynn Dorgan and Justin Jude LeBlanc, who filed a quo warranto challenge to Tuberville’s nomination, submitted a motion to expedite their appeal of a lower court’s decision to dismiss the case due to a lack of jurisdiction.

Last week, Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Brooke Reid ruled that while she believed a court in the state may well have standing to hear the constitutional challenge, she could not find precedent for it.

Dorgan and LeBlanc's attorneys strongly disagreed with her decision but quicky filed their appeal with the state's Republican dominated high court. That was then followed up by Thursday's request for the supreme court justices to expedite their response.

Questions about whether the one-term U.S. Senator legally meets the state constitution's 7-year legal residency requirement have dogged the Tuberville gubernatorial campaign since the first of the year. Two Alabama GOP Executive Committee challenges ruled in Tuberville's favor. Another challenge filed in Covington County Circuit Court met the same fate as the one in Montgomery, the judge ruled the court did not have jurisdiction.

The challengers allege Tuberville, has not met the residency requirement by living in a multi-million-dollar beach house in Florida. They add that because he is the Republican gubernatorial nominee that makes him a "quasi-state official" subject to constitutional requirements for the office he is seeking.

Tuberville's attorney responded that he cannot be a quasi-official because he has not been elected to office and has no legal authority.

Tuberville's attorney Joe Espy also argues that constitutional issues are a matter of the legislature and not the courts.

There has been no indication from the high court if they will hear the case.