Brennan Center for Justice

California Democratic Party v. Jones

Voting Rights & Elections

California’s political parties brought a First Amendment challenge to the Open Primary Initiative passed by California voters in 1996. The initiative granted every registered voter in California the right to vote in any primary for any office. Thus, for example, a voter could vote in the Democratic primary for governor, the Republican primary for state assembly and the Libertarian primary for state senate. The Center’s amicus brief argued that the law was constitutional as applied to the Democrats and Republicans, but unconstitutional as applied to the minor parties. In June 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court found the law unconstitutional as to all parties.