The Utah Republican Party continues to fight the Utah law that forces the party to allow candidates into its primary who have little or no support at party meetings. The law allows candidates to petition onto the primary ballot, but the party doesn’t want such candidates unless they had substantial support at party endorsement meetings.

On April 20, the Utah Republican Party filed its reply brief. The state had filed its brief, in support of the law, on March 20. The case is Utah Republican Party v Cox, 16-4091. One of the odd things about the Republican Party’s briefs is that, even though the party doesn’t want anyone to be able to petition onto the Republican Party primary ballot, the party also argues that the petition requirements set forth in the state law are so difficult that they are unconstitutional.