Appeals Court Refuses to Rehear Open Primary Law Case
posted 5:20 pm Wed January 02, 2008 - Richmond, Va.
In October, the appeals court ruled unanimously that open primaries are constitutional when freely chosen by a political party because state law also provides the option of closing the nominating process by holding conventions or canvasses, known as "firehouse primaries."
But when an elected state official seeking another term uses the law to force his party to open the nomination to every voter through a primary, it violates the party's First Amendment right of free association, the ruling said.
Attorney General Bob McDonnell, whose office argued in support of the state law, had asked the full court to review the ruling, but the court denied that request on Dec. 20.
McDonnell spokesman David Clementson said his office was evaluating whether to appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Virginia now allows any registered voter to participate in Democratic or Republican primaries.
Republican conservatives began challenging the law 11 years ago, alleging it allows Democrats and others to meddle in their nominating process.
--
On the Net:
4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
Not a member yet? Click Here to sign up.
Please leave your comments below:
Messages that harass, abuse or threaten other members; have obscene or otherwise objectionable content; have spam, commercial or
advertising content or inappropriate links may be removed and may result in the loss of your posting privileges.
Please do not post any private information unless you want it to be available publicly.
Never assume that you are completely anonymous and cannot be identified by your posts.
© 2008 WJLA-TV
© 2008 The Associated Press
All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
The 'RUNNING MAN' icon is a registered trademark of America Online, Inc.
ABC 7 News to leave comments on news stories.