Barbara J. Norman, et al. v. Dorothy Reed, et al. (502 U.S. 279)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided January 14, 1992 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 502 U.S. 279 · 112 S. Ct. 698
- Decided
- January 14, 1992
- Term
- October Term 1991
- Vote
- 7–1
- Majority author
- Justice Souter
- Issue area
- Civil Rights
- Disposition
- Affirmed and reversed (or vacated) in part and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
- Constitutional ruling
- State/territorial law held unconstitutional
Opinion excerpt
Justice Souter delivered the opinion of the Court. In these consolidated cases, we review a decision of the Supreme Court of Illinois barring petitioners in No. 90-1126 (petitioners) from appearing under the name of the Harold Washington Party on the November 1990 ballot for Cook County offices. We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion. I Under Illinois law, citizens organizing a new political party must canvass the electoral area in which they wish to field candidates and persuade voters to sign their nominating petitions. Organizers seeking to field candidates for statewide office must collect the signatures of 25,000 eligible voters, Ill. Rev. Stat., ch. 46, § 10-2 (1989), and, if they wish to run candidates solely for offices within a large “political subdivision” like Cook County, they need 25,000 signatures from the subdivision. Ibid. If, however, the subdivision itself comprises large separate districts from which some of its officers are elected, party organizers seeking to fill such offices must collect 25,000 signatures from each district. Ibid. If the organizers collect enough signatures to place their candidates on the ballot, their organization becomes a “new political party” under Illinois law, and if the party succeeds , in gathering 5% of the vote in the next election, it becomes an “established…
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