On October 3, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in New York State Board of Elections v Lopez Torres. It seems likely that the Court will reverse the lower courts and upold the procedures by which political parties choose their nominees for Supreme Court Justice.

Both liberal and conservative judges seemed to feel that if political parties want a system in which party leaders (specifically, chairpersons of county party organization) effetively choose party nominees for Supreme Court Justice, it’s their right to exercise autonomy and do so. Only one state party, the New York Republican Party, actually expressed its support for the existing system before the Court. Also, the Manhatten (New York County) Democratic Party expressed its support for that system as well. All members of the Court seemed to assume that, therefore, the entire state Democratic Party feels the same way.

The argument would have been far more interesting if a New York state party that opposes the current system had fileda brief, expressing itself.

If the opinion does indeed support the New York system, and if the opinion rests on the right of political parties to control their own nomination process, the decision might still be useful as a ballot access precedent. For example, Maine and Massachusetts make it very difficult for qualified small parties to place nominees on their primary ballots. If the decision does give parties more autonomy,it could help solve that problem.

On October 1, the 4th circuit affirmed a lower court decision, that if the Republican Party doesn’t want an open primary (and it is a circumstance in which the party is forced to nominate by primary), it is free to close its primary. The case is Miller v Brown.

Virginia has a unique law. The law says generally, parties may choose to nominate by convention or primary. But, if the party has an incumbent for a particular office who is running for re-election, he or she has the power to choose whether the party will use a convention or a primary. The ruling only applies to instances when the Republican Party’s incumbent has forced the party to use a primary. The ruling says, if the Republican Party is being forced to nominate by primary, then it can enforce a bylaw that excludes voters who have voted in a Democratic primary in the last 5 years (unless that voter signs an oath of allegience to the Republican Party).

Kentucky holds its election for statewide executive positions on November 6, 2007. Incumbent Republican Secretary of State Trey Grayson is running for re-election. At a debate on September 29 between him and his Democratic opponent, Grayson came in strongly in favor of eliminating Kentucky’s straight-ticket device. The number of states with the device has slowly been shrinking. New Hampshire eliminated it this year.