Electoral Systems Archives



More Generally: Politics (157)

March 20, 2008

Supreme Court Upholds I-872!

Overturning the district court and the Ninth Circuit rulings, the US Supreme Court has upheld Washington's modified blanket primary! According to the Seattle Times (HT: Scotus Blog), the political parties are "fuming". Good. I hope to write a detailed analysis of the opinions, and my opinion of them, after Easter, but for now, here is a brief summary of the three opinions filed...
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October 1, 2007

Washington's Modified Blanket Primary - Supreme Court Oral Arguments

Oral arguments in the Washington primary system case took place this morning between 10:02 and 10:53, and the transcript is now available online. Justice Souter and, to a lesser degree, Justice Ginsburg seem clearly to be in favor of I-872. Justice Stevens also seems likely to vote to overturn the Ninth Circuit, though his position is not as clear. Justices Alito, Scalia, and Roberts seemed skeptical of the State's arguments, though it was not clear to me if they had made up their minds. At at least one point (p. 32) Scalia seemed to think that the parties had overstated their case...
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September 5, 2007

Washington Primary System Case to be Heard By Supreme Court

The Washington Primary System case has been accepted by the supreme court and is, in fact, the very first case on the Supreme Court docket for the upcoming season, which begins Monday October first. All the documents are now online (the newest ones are at the bottom), including the reply briefs by the Republican, Democratic, and Libertarian Parties, and amicus briefs by the California Democratic Party (the plaintiff in the most important precedent, regarding California's blanket primary, which resembled Washington's original blanket primary), and the Democratic National Committee. Summaries of the arguments of each brief follow: The State of Washington...
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January 25, 2007

Washington Primary System Case Appealed to Supreme Court

The State of Washington and the Washington State Grange have appealed the Ninth Circuit Court's ruling against I-872, the initiative of the people, authored by the Grange, establishing Washington's non-partisan "top-two" primary. The system was struck down by the district court and the Ninth Circuit after complaints by the Republican, Demcoratic, and Libertarian Parties. All the associated documents are here (see the bottom of the page...
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August 22, 2006

Washington Primary System Unconsitutional (Again)!

The Ninth Circuit has finally ruled on the case I have reported on several times in the past year regarding Washington state's 'modified blanket primary.' The court upheld the ruling of the district court that the system unduly burdened the free association rights of the political parties. I'm still not convinced. For one thing, section IIB[2] of the ruling seems to imply that all state-run partisan nominating primaries are inherently unconstitutional - a view that I, like most libertarians, tend to agree with - but then in the very next paragraph it begins talking as though it's ok as long...
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