Statement from Utah Republican Party
Constitutional Defense Committee
National, State and Political Organizations Across Political Spectrum File Amici Briefs on Behalf of Utah GOP
National, state and political and policy organizations from across the political spectrum have filed amicus briefs in support of the Utah Republican Party’s petition to the United States Supreme Court petitioning the court to hear the party’s challenge to SB 54, the controversial 2014 Utah law which dictates how political parties must choose their nominees.
Filing amicus briefs in support of the party’s petition are:
• Senators Mike Lee and Ted Cruz and Representative Rob Bishop and Raul Labrador
• Nineteen Current and Former Utah State Senators and Legislators
• National and State Political Parties. National parties include the Green, National Independent American and Constitution Parties and seven state Libertarian parties and Idaho Republican Party.
• The Pacific Legal Foundation and Cato Institute
• Judicial Watch
• Eagle Forum
• Private Citizen
On Tuesday, October 9, the Utah Republican Party filed a Petition for Writ of Certiorari to the United States Supreme Court in its challenge to overturn SB 54 which dictates how Utah political parties choose their nominees. Interested parties had 30 days to file the amicus briefs.
Selected Quotations from the Amici Briefs:
Senators Mike Lee and Ted Cruz. Representatives Rob Bishop and Raul Labrador: “Amici file this brief to emphasize the need for this Court to grant review and reverse the Tenth Circuit’s decision, which disregards the long tradition in America of party autonomy regarding nomination processes and the value of the particular nomination process overridden by the Utah statute at issue.”
Current and Former Utah State Senators and Legislators: “The issue of whether a government may constitutionally impose on a political party the kind of substantive intrusion that SB54 represents has divided the Party and the state and will not be resolved absent the Court’s examination of the issue, since the governor has promised to veto all SB54 repeal measures. This is the ideal vehicle for the Court to vindicate the First Amendment rights of political parties.”
National and State Political Parties: “The Tenth Circuit’s ruling has the potential to make political parties powerless in making decisions that limit the influence of money or that address any other unique challenge.”
The Pacific Legal Foundation and Cato Institute: ““[A]nother vital truth: Because political associations ‘aspire to rule the state,’ those in power look upon political parties with an ‘instinctive abhorrence’ and stand ready to ‘combat them on all occasions.’ The First Amendment stands as a bulwark against the natural tendency of the state to co-opt political parties for its own purposes.”
Judicial Watch and Allied Educational Foundation “The right to freely associate is ‘almost as inalienable in its nature as the right of personal liberty. No legislator can attack it without impairing the foundations of society.’”
Eagle Forum: “The Petition for a Writ of Certiorari should be granted because the First Amendment rights of political parties are a matter of enormous national importance, and the Tenth Circuit gravely erred in allowing government to interfere with how political parties nominate their candidates.”
SB 54 was passed by the Utah Legislature during the 2014 session. The Utah Republican Party immediately filed suit and won the first portion of its constitutional challenge, overturning an onerous stipulation requiring the Party to allow non-Republicans to participate in nominating its candidates. SB 54’s restriction on a party’s ability to use Utah’s traditional caucus-convention system in nominating candidates, however, was upheld by the 10th Circuit in a split decision.
Constitutional Defense Committee
National, State and Political Organizations Across Political Spectrum File Amici Briefs on Behalf of Utah GOP
National, state and political and policy organizations from across the political spectrum have filed amicus briefs in support of the Utah Republican Party’s petition to the United States Supreme Court petitioning the court to hear the party’s challenge to SB 54, the controversial 2014 Utah law which dictates how political parties must choose their nominees.
Filing amicus briefs in support of the party’s petition are:
• Senators Mike Lee and Ted Cruz and Representative Rob Bishop and Raul Labrador
• Nineteen Current and Former Utah State Senators and Legislators
• National and State Political Parties. National parties include the Green, National Independent American and Constitution Parties and seven state Libertarian parties and Idaho Republican Party.
• The Pacific Legal Foundation and Cato Institute
• Judicial Watch
• Eagle Forum
• Private Citizen
On Tuesday, October 9, the Utah Republican Party filed a Petition for Writ of Certiorari to the United States Supreme Court in its challenge to overturn SB 54 which dictates how Utah political parties choose their nominees. Interested parties had 30 days to file the amicus briefs.
Selected Quotations from the Amici Briefs:
Senators Mike Lee and Ted Cruz. Representatives Rob Bishop and Raul Labrador: “Amici file this brief to emphasize the need for this Court to grant review and reverse the Tenth Circuit’s decision, which disregards the long tradition in America of party autonomy regarding nomination processes and the value of the particular nomination process overridden by the Utah statute at issue.”
Current and Former Utah State Senators and Legislators: “The issue of whether a government may constitutionally impose on a political party the kind of substantive intrusion that SB54 represents has divided the Party and the state and will not be resolved absent the Court’s examination of the issue, since the governor has promised to veto all SB54 repeal measures. This is the ideal vehicle for the Court to vindicate the First Amendment rights of political parties.”
National and State Political Parties: “The Tenth Circuit’s ruling has the potential to make political parties powerless in making decisions that limit the influence of money or that address any other unique challenge.”
The Pacific Legal Foundation and Cato Institute: ““[A]nother vital truth: Because political associations ‘aspire to rule the state,’ those in power look upon political parties with an ‘instinctive abhorrence’ and stand ready to ‘combat them on all occasions.’ The First Amendment stands as a bulwark against the natural tendency of the state to co-opt political parties for its own purposes.”
Judicial Watch and Allied Educational Foundation “The right to freely associate is ‘almost as inalienable in its nature as the right of personal liberty. No legislator can attack it without impairing the foundations of society.’”
Eagle Forum: “The Petition for a Writ of Certiorari should be granted because the First Amendment rights of political parties are a matter of enormous national importance, and the Tenth Circuit gravely erred in allowing government to interfere with how political parties nominate their candidates.”
SB 54 was passed by the Utah Legislature during the 2014 session. The Utah Republican Party immediately filed suit and won the first portion of its constitutional challenge, overturning an onerous stipulation requiring the Party to allow non-Republicans to participate in nominating its candidates. SB 54’s restriction on a party’s ability to use Utah’s traditional caucus-convention system in nominating candidates, however, was upheld by the 10th Circuit in a split decision.
