Opinion ID: 3018754
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Anderson and the Levels of Scrutiny

Text: At oral argument before us, the parties were questioned about the applicable level of scrutiny and whether Anderson v. Celebrezze, 460 U.S. 780 (1983), annuls, or otherwise changes, the familiar strict scrutiny, intermediate scrutiny, and rational basis classifications as applied to ballot access cases. First, we note that this Court, as well as others, has been unclear whether the Anderson balancing test applies to ballot access claims brought under the Equal Protection Clause, given that Anderson is a First Amendment case. See Belitskus v. Pizzingrilli, 343 F.3d 632, 643 n.8 (3d Cir. 2003). We clarify here that the Anderson test is the proper method for analyzing such equal protection claims due to their relationship to the associational rights found in the First Amendment. In Belitskus, we observed that we could not “see any basis for refusing to so apply (Anderson).” Id; see also Reform Party of Allegheny Co. v. Allegheny Co. Dep’t. of Elections, 174 F.3d 305, 314 (3d Cir. 1999) (assuming that “burdens require the same level of scrutiny in an equal protection analysis that they do in an associational rights analysis.”). Likewise, our sister Circuits have applied Anderson to similar claims under the Equal Protection Clause. 8 See, e.g., Fulani v. Krivanek, 973 F.2d 1539, 1542-44 (11th Cir. 1992); Republican Party of Arkansas v. Faulkner Co., 49 F.3d 1289, 1293 n.2 (8th Cir. 1995) (“In election cases, equal protection challenges essentially constitute a branch of the associational rights tree.”). As such, we conclude that Anderson sets out the proper method for balancing both associational and equal protection concerns and the burdens that the challenged law creates on these protections as weighed against the proffered state interests. What then is the import of Anderson on the traditional three tiers of scrutiny? Although we appreciate that the strict scrutiny, intermediate scrutiny, and rational basis categories represent a convenient and familiar linguistic device by which courts, including our Court,6 have characterized their review under Anderson, we note that Anderson promulgated a less categorical system of classification. See Burdick v. Takushi, 504 U.S. 428, 434 (1992) (noting that the full Court agreed in Anderson that “a more flexible standard applies.”). Put another way, ballot access cases should not be pegged into the three aforementioned categories. Rather, following Anderson, our scrutiny is a weighing process: We consider what burden is placed on the rights which plaintiffs seek to assert and then we balance that burden against the precise interests identified by the state and the extent to which these interests require that plaintiffs’ rights be burdened. Only after weighing these factors can we decide whether the challenged statute is unconstitutional. Anderson, 460 U.S. at 789. Consequently, we will look at the nature of the rights involved here and the burdens imposed by Pennsylvania election law on minor political parties in order to determine if the burden is justified.