Phil Lyman v. Spencer J. Cox, Governor of Utah, et al.

In New York State Bd. Of Elections v. Lopez Torres, 552 U.S. 196 (2008), this Court held: “a political party has a First Amendment right to limit its membership as it wishes, and to choose a candidate selection process that will in its view produce the nominee who best represents its political platform. These rights are circumscribed, however, when the State gives the party a role in the election process— as New York has done here by giving certain parties the right to have their candidates appear with party endorsement on the general-election ballot.” As in Torres, the Utah Republican Party’s associational rights are at issue “only as a shield and not as a sword.” No Utah law prohibits a candidate from attending a political party convention and seeking to persuade the delegates to support him. Did the Utah Supreme Court run afoul of this Court’s judgment of Torres by concluding that a state can mandate a candidate, who won the political party’s nomination through the convention process, to participate in the direct primary because the candidate who lost at convention collected signatures giving the losing candidate a second chance to seek the political party’s nomination? aaviaoBF"*' AO- l- 01' II i - , ... * > x ■■ ■ *.'i T «<t :t sM iM'r 1