The CATO Institute, Reason Foundation, and The Center for Competitive Politics have filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court election case called N.Y. State Bd. of Elections v Lopez Torres. This is the first time either CATO or Reason Foundation has ever filed such a brief in a ballot access case. CATO and the Reason Foundation are well-known libertarian think-tanks. The Center for Competitive Politics was founded by former FEC Commissioner Brad Smith and others, which usually focuses on fighting restrictive campaign finance laws.

The brief, authored by First Amendment specialist Erik S. Jaffe, argues the true “political party rights” position in this case. It advocates that the U.S. Supreme Court strike down the New York state law mandating particular procedures that qualified parties must use to nominate candidates for State Supreme Court Justice. It says, “Whether a private political expressive association (i.e., a political party) chooses to reach its decisions by emulating democratic elections and polling its membership or instead adopts a more hierarchical decision-making process, is of concern only to the association and its members, not the government.”

The brief is useful for making a persuasive argument in favor of autonomy for political parties. The brief is even more useful for exposing the muddy thinking of the Republican National Committee amicus brief. The Republican National Committee brief waxes eloquently in favor of autonomy for political parties. But then it comes out in support of a state law that compels parties to use a very flawed method for choosing delegates to nominating conventions, whether they like it or not.

California will hold a special election on June 26, to fill the vacancy in the 37th U.S. House district. The district includes Compton, Carson, and much of Long Beach. The filing deadline is Monday, May 14. It appears likely that the race will include Green Party member Daniel Brezenoff, Libertarian Party member Herb Peters, and perhaps six Democrats and three Republicans. If no one gets a majority on June 26, there will be a run-off on August 21 with the top vote-getter from each political party. Probably no one will get a majority on June 26. The district is overwhelmingly Democratic, but no single Democrat is likely to poll as much as 50% of the total vote. The Democratic vote will probably be split between State Senator Jenny Oropeza, Assemblymember Laura Richardson, and the late incumbent’s daughter, Valerie McDonald.

UPDATE: filing has now closed. Eleven Democrats, 5 Republicans, the Green mentioned above, the Libertarian mentioned above, and independent candidate Al Salehi Agassi will be on the ballot.

New York state and its allies have now filed their briefs with the U.S. Supreme Court in N.Y. State Bd. of Elections v Lopez Torres, no. 06-766. Allied with the state on the merits are the New York State Republican Party, the Manhatten Democratic Party, the Association of State Supreme Court Justices, the Republican National Committee, New York’s Attorney General, and the Asian American Bar Association. Also, the Mid-Manhatten Branch of the NAACP and the Metropolitan Black Bar Association filed an amicus brief that seems to be neutral on the merits but argues that the relief ordered by the lower courts was wrong.

Groups that filed an amicus brief in the 2nd circuit on the state’s side, but did not bother to file an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court on the state’s side, are the Women’s Bar Association of New York, the Staten Island Bar Association, and the New York state legislature.

The issue in the case is the method New York uses to nominate Supreme Court Justices. Judicial district conventions choose party nominees. Delegates to the district conventions need 500 signatures, collected in 37 days from party members in their own county (judicial districts are larger than counties). While that sounds easy, there are hundreds of delegates chosen. Anyone who wants to be nominated, and who doesn’t have the support of party leaders who get the party-backed slates of delegates on the primary ballot, must get his or her own delegates on the primary ballots. The task is so difficult, virtually no one ever gets on the primary ballot except slates of delegate candidates backed by the party organization. Then, since there is no primary contest, that office is simply removed from the primary ballot.

New York and its allies don’t argue that collecting all these signatures is easy. They just say that the U.S. Constitution doesn’t protect ballot access in partisan primaries. Also they say that the system was never designed for someone who wants a judicial nomination to recruit slates of delegates and organize petition drives to get them on the ballot.

Lopez Torres’ brief, and amici briefs from her allies, are due in June.