Because the burden imposed by
section 6661(a) on the Party's freedom of association is slight, and because the State has a compelling interest in minimizing voter confusion, we hold that
section 6661(a) does not violate the Party's First Amendment right to associate with whomever it chooses. The Party's assertion that “legislative restrictions on the right of a ballot-qualified political party to adopt its own procedures for self-governance including nomination of candidates constitute a substantial impairment of the rights of the party and its members to freedom of association” does find some support in the Supreme Court's jurisprudence, but the Party overstates the breadth of the holdings on which it relies.
See San Francisco County Democratic Cent. Comm., 489 U.S. 214, 109 S.Ct. 1013, 103 L.Ed.2d 271 (holding that California election laws forbidding political parties from endorsing candidates in party primaries and dictating organization and composition of party governing bodies violate right to freedom of association);
Republican Party of Conn., 479 U.S. 208, 107 S.Ct. 544, 93 L.Ed.2d 514 (holding that state law requiring that voters in party primary be registered members of the party violates right to freedom of association);
Democratic Party of U.S. v. Wisconsin, 450 U.S. 107, 101 S.Ct. 1010, 67 L.Ed.2d 82 (1981) (holding that Wisconsin could hold an open Democratic primary but could not require the
National Party to accept the results of that primary, which conflicted with a National Party rule requiring closed primaries). These cases struck down particularly egregious intrusions into party self-governance.
Jenness, American Party, and
Socialist Workers Party are on all fours with this case and demonstrate that political parties' rights to nominate whomever they want, however they want, is not sacred.