EU v. SAN FRANCISCO COUNTY DEMOCRATIC CENTRAL COMMITTEE

Legal Principle at Issue

Whether California's election laws — which strictly forbade political parties from endorsing candidates in primary elections and heavily regulated their internal organization, composition, and leadership term limits — violated the members' First Amendment rights of free speech and freedom of association.

Action

Affirmed (includes modified). Petitioning party did not receive a favorable disposition.

Facts/Syllabus

Section 11702 of the California Elections Code forbids the official governing bodies of political parties to endorse or oppose candidates in primary elections, while Section 29430 makes it a misdemeanor for any candidate in a primary to claim official party endorsement. Other Code sections dictate the organization and composition of parties' governing bodies, limit the term of office for a party's state central committee chair, and require that the chair rotate between residents of northern and southern California. 

Various party governing bodies, members of such bodies, and other politically active groups and individuals brought suit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, claiming that these code provisions deprived parties and their members of the rights of free speech and free association guaranteed by the First and Fourteenth Amendments. The district court granted summary judgment for the plaintiffs as to the provisions in question, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed.