On January 20, the office of the “Repealer”, a Kansas Commission charged with identifying laws that should be repealed because they are unconstitutional or obsolete, submitted a list of 51 laws that ought to be repealed. However, the Repealer did not include Kansas Election laws 25-116 and 25-117, which ban the Communist Party from the ballot.
All such laws were held unconstitutional in 1974 in a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court opinion, Communist Party of Indiana v Whitcomb, 414 U.S. 441. Kansas is one of six states that still bans either the Communist Party, or “subversive” parties, from the ballot, or requires a loyalty oath for parties or candidates. The others are Arizona, Arkansas, California, Illinois and Pennsylvania.
Several years ago, the Kansas Secretary of State tried to persuade the legislature to repeal the Communist Party ban, but the bill to do that was defeated by one vote in committee.
The “Repealer” list in Kansas has received extensive publicity because the list also omits the law banning two individuals of the same sex from having certain kinds of sex. Those laws were declared unconstitutional by a 2003 decision of the U.S. Supreme Court, Lawrence v Texas.
Why ban the commies when New Age Donkeys are around ??
I heard one time Texas still banned the Communist Party? Did the law change?
Also, I read Arizona now allowed the Communists. I believe it was in the early 1990s.
#3, that Arizona law is still on the books, even though it was declared unconstitutional in 1973 by a U.S. District Court.
Many years, at the beginning of the Arizona legislative session, I have e-mailed every Arizona legislature, asking for a brave person to introduce a bill to repeal it. It says Communists don’t have the right to advocate communism. It talks about the Soviet Union and about Cuba. It goes on for 2 pages. It is wildly out of date.
Pingback: Kansas “Repealer Commission” Suggests Laws for Repeal, but Ignores Unconstitutional Ban on Communist Party | ThirdPartyPolitics.us