Court Opinion

ID: 9844718
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 03:07:21.316953+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:15:40.827789
License: Public Domain

Justice LOHR
specially concurring:
I concur in the result reached by the majority but write separately to express the reasons for this agreement.
The rights at issue in this case are those of petitioners Colorado Libertarian Party (CLP) and Robin Heid to political association as guaranteed by the first and fourteenth amendments to the United States Constitution and article II, section 5, of the Colorado Constitution, and to equal protection of the laws as guaranteed by the fourteenth amendment to the United States Constitution and article II, section 25, of the Colorado Constitution.
Storer v. Brown, 415 U.S. 724, 94 S.Ct. 1274, 39 L.Ed.2d 714 (1973), is dispositive of the arguments of CLP and Heid that the twelve month unaffiliation requirement in section 1 — 4—801(l)(i), IB C.R.S. (1980), violates their rights to political association under the first and fourteenth amendments to the United States Constitution. In that case, independent candidates for public office sought a declaration that certain provisions of the California Elections Code violated their political association rights under the first and fourteenth amendments. The provisions in question denied a ballot position to an independent candidate for elective public office who had a registered affiliation with a qualified political party at any time within one year prior to the immediately preceding primary election. In order to qualify for a position on the ballot, a person registered with a qualified political party had to disaffiliate seventeen months or more before the general election. The United States Supreme Court upheld California’s disaffiliation requirement against a challenge grounded on the political association rights protected by the first and fourteenth amendments. The court concluded that the disaffiliation requirement furthers the state’s interest in the stability of its political system, a compelling interest “outweighing the interest the candidate and his supporters may have in making a late rather than an early decision to seek independent ballot status.” Id. at 736, 94 S.Ct. at 1282. Storer defeats the arguments of CLP and Heid that the one-year unaffiliation requirement in section l-4-801(l)(i) violates their rights to political association under the federal constitution. Nothing in subsequent federal cases has called into question the basic holding of Storer. See Tashjian v. Republican Party of Conn., 479 U.S. 208, 223, 107 S.Ct. 544, 553, 93 L.Ed.2d 514 (1986) (invalidating requirement that voters in any political primary be registered members of that party); Eu v. San Francisco County Democratic Comm., 489 U.S. 214, 227, 109 S.Ct. 1013, 1022, 103 L.Ed.2d 271 (1989) (invalidating ban on party endorsement of primary candidates and regulations on internal party governance).
The majority opinion and the special concurrence of Justice Mullarkey adequately demonstrate that political organizations and political parties are not similarly situated for the purpose of the equal protection analysis under the federal constitution. Accordingly, I agree that CLP and Heid have not established that the unaffiliation requirement of section 1 — 4—801(l)(i) violates their rights to equal protection of the *1008laws under the fourteenth amendment of the federal constitution.
Although CLP and Heid assert in their briefs that the unaffiliation requirement violates their rights to political association under article II, section 5, of the Colorado Constitution and their rights to equal protection of the laws under article II, section 25, of our state constitution, they do not attempt to distinguish those rights from the companion rights guaranteed by the federal constitution. Their arguments assume that the scope of the federal and state rights is identical.1 As support for that proposition, the petitioners cite MacGuire v. Houston, 717 P.2d 948, 954-55 (Colo.1986), and National Prohibition Party v. State, 752 P.2d 80, 83 n. 4 (Colo. 1988).2 MacGuire, however, does not support so broad a statement. There, we considered the narrow question of whether “the fundamental freedoms of association, political belief, and political participation” under the federal and state constitutions “require that unaffiliated voters or members of minority political parties be eligible to serve as election judges.” Id. at 954-55. We held that the Colorado Constitution provided no greater protections than the federal constitution on this particular issue. Id. at 954-55. MacGuire provides the sole support for our statement in National Prohibition Party v. State, 752 P.2d at 83 n. 4 (1988), that “[i]n testing the validity of restrictions on ballot access under the Colorado Constitution, we apply the requirements of federal law.” The language in National Prohibition Party states the holding of MacGuire on this issue much too broadly.
The language of article II, section 5, of the Colorado Constitution is very different from the terms of the right to political association as set forth in the first amendment to the United States Constitution.3 In addition, as we observe in a decision announced today, we have a long tradition of providing greater protection of free speech under the Colorado Constitution than does the first amendment. Bock v. Westminster Mall Co., No. 90SC433 — P.2d - (Colo.S.Ct. Oct. 8, 1991). The first amendment protects both free speech and the right to political association. Therefore, in a properly postured case I would not foreclose the possibility that the Colorado Constitution provides greater rights to political association than does the first amendment. In absence of any argument by counsel advancing or explicating such an argument, however, I do not consider the present case appropriate for consideration of that issue.
I concur in the judgment of the court.

. In fact, in their reply brief CLP and Heid argue that:
[P]etitioners’ rights to political association and equal protection under Article II, Sections 5 and 25 of the Colorado Constitution have also been violated; however, the analysis for those violations parallels the federal constitutional analysis.
Petitioners' Reply Brief at 1 n. 1, 90SA382.

. Petitioners’ Opening Brief at 5 n. 3, 90SA382.

. Article II, section 5, of the Colorado Constitution provides:
All elections shall be free and open; and no power, civil or military, shall at any time interfere to prevent the free exercise of the right of suffrage.
The first amendment to the United States Constitution provides:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.