Court sidelines Lewis

CARL LEWIS can't go the distance.

A three-judge federal appeals panel yesterday kicked the nine-time Olympic gold medalist off the ballot in his bid for a New Jersey Senate seat, a week after two of those same three judges ordered that he be put on the ballot.

Lewis' campaign manager, Chris Walker, said yesterday that Lewis will announce what he will do - appeal or leave things alone - at a news conference today.

Lewis, 50, who was running as a Democrat against a Republican incumbent, could appeal to the entire 3rd Circuit or to the U.S. Supreme Court, but there isn't much time. The deadline to start mailing out ballots to overseas residents is today.

In its unanimous opinion yesterday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit found that Lewis has not been treated unequally by the state's residency requirement. Challengers to Lewis' candidacy - Burlington County Republicans and New Jersey state officials - have argued since April that Lewis did not meet the four-year residency requirement to run for Senate.

The three-judge federal panel was considering constitutional matters brought on appeal by Lewis. It was not specifically considering whether Lewis met the residency requirement. It said in its opinion that it declined to revisit the residency issue because that was a "state law issue that was fully litigated in state court."

A New Jersey Superior Court appellate panel in May had concluded that Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno was correct in determining that Lewis did not meet the residency requirement. Lewis has owned homes in South Jersey since 2005 but voted in California in 2009.

In a statement yesterday, the Burlington County Republican Committee said that "in spite of [Lewis'] celebrity status, he has to play by the same rules that everyone else has to play by."

Mark Sheridan, an attorney representing Burlington County Republicans, said the three judges last week put Lewis back on the ballot after looking at past 3rd Circuit case decisions.

Sheridan said that "it's hard to say what precipitated" yesterday's decision but that he thinks the judges considered more recent U.S. Supreme Court case law.

Lewis' attorney, William Tambussi, said in a statement that "it is unfortunate" that voters "are being denied a meaningful choice."

Tambussi called yesterday's ruling "baffling."