Democratic Party v. Wisconsin

450 U.S. 107 (1981)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Rule 2A of the Democratic Selection Rules for the 1980 National Convention states: 'Participation in the delegate selection process in primaries or caucuses shall be restricted to Democratic voters only who publicly declare their party preference and have that preference publicly recorded.' The election laws of Wisconsin allow anyone to vote in the Democratic primary without regard to party affiliation and without requiring a public declaration of party preference. The voters express their choice among Presidential candidates for the Democratic Party's nomination. They do not vote for delegates to the National Convention. The delegates are chosen separately at caucuses of persons who have stated their affiliation with the Party. These delegates, under Wisconsin law, are bound to vote at the National Convention in accord with the results of the open primary election. P's mandate that the results of the primary shall determine the allocation of votes cast by the State's delegates at the National Convention violates D's rules. P brought an original action in the Wisconsin Supreme Court seeking a declaration that the Wisconsin delegate selection system was constitutional as applied to Ds and that Ds could not lawfully refuse to seat the Wisconsin delegation at the Convention. Ds argued that under the First and Fourteenth Amendments it could not be compelled to seat the Wisconsin delegation in violation of Party rules. The Wisconsin Supreme Court held that P's system of selecting delegates to the Democratic National Convention is constitutional and binding. The court ruled that D's freedom of political association gave it the right to restrict participation in the process of choosing Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates to Democrats. But, P's primary election laws were themselves intended to permit persons to vote only for the candidates of the party they preferred, and that, as a practical matter, requiring a public declaration of party affiliation would not prevent persons who are not Democrats from voting in the primary. The court ruled this burden on association was justified by P's 'compelling interest in maintaining the special feature of its primary . . . which permits a private declaration of party preference.' The Supreme Court granted certiorari.