By Richard Winger Both the North Carolina Republican Party and the Virginia Republican Party are considering adopting state rules that require presidential primary candidates to take a loyalty oath to support the party’s eventual 2016 presidential nominee. See this story. It is likely that courts would uphold the ability of parties to enforce such a requirement.
The Texas Democratic Party had a similar oath for presidential primary candidates in 2008, and Dennis Kucinich refused to sign it. He sued to get on the Texas Democratic presidential primary ballot, but the U.S. District Court and the 5th circuit upheld the authority of …read more