Current:Home > NewsGeorgia court rejects local Republican attempt to handpick primary candidates -InvestPioneer
Georgia court rejects local Republican attempt to handpick primary candidates
View
Date:2025-04-11 14:35:08
ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia’s Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected an appeal from a county Republican Party that tried to keep four candidates from running on the GOP ballot because party officials viewed them as ideologically impure.
The court voted 9-0 to dismiss the appeal from the Catoosa County Republican Party, ruling that the party moved too slowly to overturn a lower court ruling. Presiding Justice Nels Peterson, writing for the court, said it would be wrong for the high court to require new Republican primary elections after voters already cast ballots.
“Elections matter. For this reason, parties wanting a court to throw out the results of an election after it has occurred must clear significant hurdles,” Peterson wrote. “And for decades, our precedent has made crystal clear that the first such hurdle is for the parties seeking to undo an election to have done everything within their power to have their claims decided before the election occurred.”
But the court didn’t get to the root of the dispute that divided Republicans in Catoosa and nearby Chattooga County this spring — which is about whether county parties should be able to act as gatekeepers for their primary ballots. The idea was fostered by a group called the Georgia Republican Assembly, which seeks to influence the larger party.
In a state with no party registration and primaries that allow anyone to vote in the party nominating contest of their choice, it can be hard to tell who is truly a Republican or a Democrat. But Catoosa County Republican officers refused to allow Steven Henry and incumbent Larry Black to run for county commission chair and refused to allow incumbent commissioners Jeffrey Long and Vanita Hullander to seek reelection to their seats on the county commission. All four had previously been elected as Republicans in Catoosa County, a heavily GOP area in Georgia’s northwestern corner that is a suburb of Chattanooga, Tennessee.
A superior court judge in March ordered the four candidates placed on the ballot by county officials after the party balked, even though the judge ordered the sheriff to escort the candidates to the party’s office and threatened party officers with $1,000 fines if they failed to comply.
Black and Hullander lost their primary bids, but Long and Henry won the Republican nomination.
Justice Charlie Bethel, writing in a separate concurrence, said it was likely the high court will eventually have to decide whether county parities can create rules for qualifying candidates in primary elections beyond those found in state law. Bethel said it was unclear to him whether county parties could create additional rules beyond those of the state party. The state Republican Party in 2023 shot down an attempt at banning ideological traitors from primary ballots.
A federal judge in Rome on Sept. 9 dismissed a separate lawsuit that the Catoosa County GOP brought against county election officials, claiming that being forced to put the candidates on the Republican ballot unconstitutionally violated the party’s freedom of association.
U.S. District Judge Billy Ray, a former chair of the Gwinnett County Republican Party, said a party’s associational rights are not “absolute” and that voters should decide primaries.
What to know about the 2024 Election
- Today’s news: Follow live updates from the campaign trail from the AP.
- Ground Game: Sign up for AP’s weekly politics newsletter to get it in your inbox every Monday.
- AP’s Role: The Associated Press is the most trusted source of information on election night, with a history of accuracy dating to 1848. Learn more.
“Trying to limit who can run in a primary seems inconsistent with the purpose of a primary to start with,” Ray wrote in a footnote. “Perhaps the Catoosa Republican Party doesn’t believe that the citizens of Catoosa County can for themselves intelligently decide which candidates best embody the principles of the Republican Party.”
He continued, writing that “The Court does not share such sentiment. It seems that our form of government is designed to allow citizens to pick their government leaders, not for insiders (of the local party) to pick the government leaders for them.”
The county party has filed notice that it will appeal the federal case to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
veryGood! (35)
Related
- McConnell absent from Senate on Thursday as he recovers from fall in Capitol
- Prosecutors in Trump classified documents case seek to bar him from making statements that endangered law enforcement
- NCAA lacrosse semifinals: Notre Dame rolls Denver, Maryland tops Virginia for title game spot
- What The Hills' Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt Think of Kristin Cavallari and Mark Estes' Romance
- Retirement planning: 3 crucial moves everyone should make before 2025
- Forecasters warn Oklahoma may see dangerous tornadoes as Texas bakes in record heat
- 'Absolute chaos': Taylor Swift's Eras Tour in Lisbon delayed as fans waited to enter
- Grayson Murray dies at age 30 a day after withdrawing from Colonial, PGA Tour says
- 'We're reborn!' Gazans express joy at returning home to north
- WNBA heads to Toronto with first international team as league expands
Ranking
- Trump suggestion that Egypt, Jordan absorb Palestinians from Gaza draws rejections, confusion
- Idaho drag performer awarded $1.1 million in defamation case against far-right blogger
- At North Carolina’s GOP convention, governor candidate Robinson energizes Republicans for election
- 'I want to do damage': Yankees' 6-foot-6 prospect Spencer Jones has his eyes on New York
- Taylor Swift makes surprise visit to Kansas City children’s hospital
- Alabama softball walks off Tennessee at super regional to set winner-take-all Game 3
- How to Find the Right Crystals for Your Zodiac Sign, According to an Astrologer
- Fever coach, players try to block out social media hate: 'It's really sad, isn't it?'
Recommendation
Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Triathlon
NASA says Boeing's Starliner crew capsule safe to fly as is with small helium leak
Their school is about to close. Now, Birmingham-Southern heads to College World Series.
Every death imperils their species. 2024 already holds triumph and tragedy.
Skins Game to make return to Thanksgiving week with a modern look
WNBA heads to Toronto with first international team as league expands
Dolphin stuck in NJ creek dies after ‘last resort’ rescue attempt, officials say
Forecasters warn Oklahoma may see dangerous tornadoes as Texas bakes in record heat