United States Ninth Circuit

The district court's dismissal of a suit alleging that plaintiff's constitutional rights were violated when she was excluded, pursuant to California regulation, from appearing on the 2012 presidential primary ballot as a candidate for the Peace and Freedom Party because she was twenty-seven years old and therefore not constitutionally eligible to be president, is affirmed, where: 1) any burden on First Amendment rights that results from California's age requirement, which simply recognized the lines that the Constitution already drew, was minimal, and this burden is amply justified by California’s asserted interest in protecting the integrity of the election process and avoiding voter confusion; 2) the Secretary of State does not violate the Equal Protection Clause by excluding from the ballot candidates who are indisputably ineligible to serve, while listing those with a colorable claim of eligibility; 3) nothing in the Twentieth Amendment's text or history suggested that it precludes state authorities from excluding a candidate with a known ineligibility from the presidential ballot.

Appellate Information

• Decided 05/06/2014
• Published 05/06/2014

Judges

• KOZINSKI

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel