In Trenton, Judge Says Item on Stem Cells Stays on Ballot

Jeremy W. Peters reports for the New York Times:

TRENTON, Sept. 24 — A state judge ruled on Monday that a $450 million bond proposal to finance stem cell research must stay on the November ballot, dealing a blow to abortion opponents.

Judge Neil H. Shuster of Superior Court in Mercer County ruled that abortion opponents who challenged the initiative on the grounds that it would permit human cloning waited too long to file their case and did not made a convincing enough claim of imminent harm.

Saying that an injunction was the “strongest weapon” available to the court and should be used sparingly, Judge Shuster declined to stop the printing of ballots. Counties across the state are printing ballots now so they can mail them this week, the earliest that state law allows ballots to be distributed.