ABSTRACT
In Timmons v. Twin Cities Area New Party, 520 US 351, the US Supreme Court upheld a 1901 Minnesota law prohibiting candidates for elected office from running under more than one party banner. Timmons was the result of a legal challenge brought by a chapter of the national New Party, which had been denied the opportunity to nominate a state legislative candidate who had already been nominated by another party. The New Party chapter claimed that the Minnesota law violated its right of association under the First Amendment, as applied to the states under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The US Supreme Court, by a six-three margin, upheld the Minnesota statute. Chief Justice Rehnquist wrote that Minnesota's interest in "protecting the integrity, fairness, and efficiency of ballots and election processes" was sufficiently weighty to justify upholding the statute. The Court had to address whether the state prohibition against multiparty candidates violated their right to free association.
