Bellotti v. Connolly Langone v. Connolly

• Decision Date: 04 April 1983
• Docket Number: No.82-936,No. 82-927,82-927,82-936
• Citation: 460 U.S. 1057,103 S.Ct. 1510,75 L.Ed.2d 938
• Parties: Francis X. BELLOTTI, Attorney General of Massachusetts, appellant, v. Michael J. CONNOLLY et al. Frederick C. LANGONE, et al., appellants, v. Michael J. CONNOLLY et al
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

460 U.S. 1057

103 S.Ct. 1510

75 L.Ed.2d 938

Francis X. BELLOTTI, Attorney General of Massachusetts, appellant,

v Michael J. CONNOLLY et al. Frederick C. LANGONE, et

al., appellants,

v. Michael J. CONNOLLY et al

No. 82-927

No.82-936

Supreme Court of the United States

April 4, 1983

The appeals are dismissed for want of jurisdiction. Treating the papers whereon the appeals were taken as petitions for writs of certiorari, certiorari is denied.

Justice STEVENS, with whom Justice REHNQUIST and Justice O'CONNOR join, dissenting from the order dismissing the appeals.

These appeals present substantial, unresolved questions regarding the accommodation of competing First Amendment values: the interests of would-be candidates and voters in eligibility for the ballot, and the interests of party members in political association without undue governmental intrusion. Massachusetts law requires that a person seeking to be placed on the party primary ballot for a statewide office must be an enrolled member of that party and must file certain documents, including nominating papers signed by a specified number of voters. Mass.Gen.Laws Ann., ch. 53, §§ 9, 44, 45, and 48. The statute itself contains no other express requirements for access to the ballot, but the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has held that these rules are "supplemented by" a rule—the "15% rule"—adopted by the Massachusetts Democratic Party. This rule permits an individual to run in the party primary only if he or she has received 15% of the votes on any ballot at the state party's convention to endorse candidates, which is held before the primary. According to the Massachusetts court, the 15% rule is designed to assure that primary candidates have a "modicum of support from members with substantial affiliation with the party."

Frederick C. Langone, who wished to be a candidate in the Democratic primary for Lieutenant Governor in 1982, satisfied all of the requirements for ballot eligibility that were expressly set forth in the statute, including the submission of 10,000 certified signatures. Nevertheless, the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts excluded him from the primary ballot because he had not obtained at least 15% of the votes cast at the party convention, as the 15% rule required. He filed suit in state court seeking an injunction requiring the Secretary to place his name on the primary ballot. The Attorney General of Massachusetts intervened as a plaintiff and filed a complaint seeking declaratory and injunctive relief. Two questions of law were reserved and reported to the full Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, which rendered its decision in favor of the Secretary's implementation of the statute.

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court construed Chapter 53 to recognize the Democratic party's 15% rule because it believed that such a construction was required by the United States Constitution in order to avoid an impermissible infringement of the associational rights of party members. It noted that nomination papers may be signed by voters who are not members of the party, and that persons may vote in a party primary even if they have not enrolled in the party until immediately before they vote. Therefore, the court reasoned, additional restrictions serve the political party's "legitimate—indeed, compelling interest in ensuring that its selection process accurately reflects the collective voice of those who, in some meaningful sense, are affiliated with it." If Chapter 53 were construed to nullify the 15% rule, the Massachusetts court believed that it would "as effectively eliminat[e] that party's control of who its candidates in general elections will be as did the Wisconsin statute held unconstitutional in Democratic Party of U.S. v. Wisconsin [450 U.S. 107, 101 S.Ct. 1010, 67 L.Ed.2d 82 (1981) ]." That burden would necessitate "strict scrutiny, which it does not survive." In essence, the Massachusetts court held that the United States Constitution prevents a State from enforcing a statute that gives a place on the primary ballot to any party member who satisfies the State's own eligibility requirements.¹

The Massachusetts court rejected appellants' contentions that the statute, as construed to recognize the 15% rule, would defeat the legislative purpose in providing for primary elections and would violate the constitutional rights of candidates and voters. It recognized that the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution guarantee the rights of free speech and association of candidates and voters. It further acknowledged that, because the 15% rule was enforced through the State's supervision of the primary election process, the 15% rule should be treated "as though it were expressly contained in G.L. c. 53." But it concluded that the burden on candidacy and voting rights imposed by enforcement of the 15% rule was insufficient to warrant strict scrutiny. Although the rule restricts access to the primary ballot, it allows each person the same opportunity to gather the neces- sary signatures and convention support. In addition, a candidate for statewide office may appear on the general election ballot as an independent. To the extent that voters wish to associate and express their ideas as Democrats, the Massachusetts court reasoned, they could be represented by the several candidates who obtained the requisite convention support. Further, the state court found that the rule was rationally related to the furtherance of legitimate State interests—maintaining the integrity and stability of existing political parties, and assuring that party nominees are "truly representative of the party."

The appeal in No. 82-927 has been filed by the Attorney General of Massachusetts, seeking to vindicate the State's interest in regulating the primary election ballot; his jurisdictional statement also asserts that the decision below improperly elevates the associational rights of party regulars over those of other party members. The appeal in No. 92-936 has been filed by would-be candidate Langone and several of his supporters, contending inter alia that enforcement of the 15% rule infringed their fundamental constitutional rights.

The case is properly before this Court on appeal. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, the highest court in the Commonwealth, expressly construed Chapter 53 "not to exclude, but rather, to accommodate the 15% rule."² It explained that the statute was to be "augmented" or "supplemented" by the 15% rule and acknowledged that the enforcement of the rule is "State action." "For the purpose of evaluating the plaintiffs' claims that the 15% rule violates rights guaranteed to them by the Federal and State Constitutions," the court wrote, "we treat the rule as though it were expressly contained in G.L. c. 53." Its opinion then rejected appellants' constitutional challenges to the statute so construed. We therefore have appellate jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1257(2) (1976). See Perry Education Assn. v. Perry Local Educators' Assn., --- U.S. ---- at ---- n. 5, 103 S.Ct. 948 at 953-54 n. 5, 74 L.Ed.2d 794; Abood v. Detroit Board of Education, 431 U.S. 209, 214-215 and n. 7, 97 S.Ct. 1782, 1788-89 and n. 7, 52 L.Ed.2d 261 (1977) (appellate review of a state court decision upholding the validity of a state statute authorizing the negotiation of agency shop agreements).

Unquestionably the issues presented by these appeals are substantial. Appellant Bellotti, the Attorney General, asserts the interests of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in...