Monday, March 28, 2011

California Democratic Party v. Jones

A 1999 case negating the ability of California to curtail the extremism facilitated by primaries by allowing for a blanket primary. I recommend this to my 2301s who want to dig more fully into primary elections and the right of association as applied to political parties. This link at the Oyez Project details the case and has audio of the majority opinion.

From Oyes' Summary:

In a 7-2 opinion delivered by Justice Antonin Scalia, the Court held that California's blanket primary violates a political party's First Amendment right of association. "Proposition 198 forces political parties to associate with -- to have their nominees, and hence their positions, determined by -- those who, at best, have refused to affiliate with the party, and, at worst, have expressly affiliated with a rival," wrote Justice Antonin Scalia for the majority. "A single election in which the party nominee is selected by nonparty members could be enough to destroy the party." Justice Scalia went on to state for the Court that Proposition 198 takes away a party's "basic function" to choose its own leaders and is functionally "both severe and unnecessary." Justices John Paul Stevens and Ruth Bader Ginsburg dissented. "This Court's willingness to invalidate the primary schemes of 3 States and cast serious constitutional doubt on the schemes of 29 others at the parties' behest is," Justice Stevens wrote, "an extraordinary intrusion into the complex and changing election laws of the States."- The right to association.
- Freedom of association.

This decision led to the following a few years later:
- Washington State Grange v. Washington State Republican Party