Delaware's constitution provides that one party may have no more than 50% plus 1 members on a public body such as its courts. It also effectively limits the judiciary to members of a "major party". James Adams, a maverick lawyer challenged both provisions, which Governor John Carney of course defended.
The Court of Appeals held for Adams, as summarized by Stephen Breyer, author of an 8-0 Supreme Court decision today:
The Third Circuit concluded that the major party requirement categorically excludes independents and members of third parties from becoming judges on the Supreme Court, the Chancery Court, and the Superior Court. 922 F. 3d, at 182–183. It held that the major party requirement consequently violates the Federal Constitution’s First Amendment. . And it held that the major party requirement is not severable from the bare majority requirement. The Circuit concluded that both requirements (as applied to those three courts) are invalid.
But today in a troublesome decision the Supreme Court dismissed the case on standing grounds, concluding that Adams was a gadfly, not a genuine candidate for a judgeship. They've got a lot of nerve, in my view. Such doubts should have led to a remand for trial, not dismissal. Standing is a classic method of "constitutional avoidance" in cases where the Court finds the temperature too high or the press of time too great. - GWC
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