On March 16, a Florida circuit court upheld the 2011 law that says no one may seek the nomination of a political party if that person was a member of another qualified party in the preceding year. Argenziano v Browning, 2011-ca-3484. The plaintiff is Nancy Argenziano, who accidentally registered as a member of the Independent Party last year. She wants to run in the Democratic Party primary for Congress this year. See this story.
Unfortunately, the Florida Democratic Party refused to join Argenziano’s lawsuit, even though the story alleges that the party has no objection to Argenziano’s candidacy. The U.S. Supreme Court said in 1986 in Tashjian v Republican Party of Connecticut that it would violate a political party’s freedom of association for a state to say that the party may not nominate a non-member. Laws like the Florida law have been declared unconstitutional in Colorado and New Mexico, but in the Colorado and New Mexico cases, it was the political party that brought the lawsuit.
The Constitution Party of Florida has recruited someone to run for a partisan office this year, who would also be barred by the new Florida law. The Constitution Party is thinking about bringing its own lawsuit on behalf of itself and its desired candidate, and that proposed lawsuit would have a better chance of winning.