On April 10, the Greenville County Republican Party filed its reply brief in Greenville County Republican Party Executive Committee v Way, 13-2170, in the Fourth Circuit. The U.S. District Court had ruled that the county Republican Party doesn’t have standing to challenge South Carolina laws that require parties to nominate by open primary or by convention.

The party’s brief explains that the county party must nominate by open primary, and cannot nominate by convention, when it nominates for partisan city office. The brief also explains that because state law requires county parties to pay for the administration of their own primaries for municipal office, the county party is suffering constitutional injuries, aside from any issue related to primaries for federal and state office.

The party’s brief also says that the state Republican Party, even though it withdrew from the lawsuit, passed a resolution on June 14, 2013, affirming its support for the county party’s legal position. The party’s brief also documents that the state Republican Party platform supports the lawsuit.

The next step will be for the Fourth Circuit to set an oral argument date.