## Facts

- David Duke sought the Republican nomination for President in 1992 and competed in multiple states’ presidential primaries.
- Georgia’s Secretary of State, acting under state law, prepared an initial list of potential Republican presidential preference primary candidates that included Duke.
- Under Ga. Code § 21-2-193(a), the Secretary submitted the list to Georgia’s Presidential Candidate Selection Committee, which selected the Republican candidates to appear on the primary ballot.
- The Committee (including Georgia Republican Party leadership and legislative minority leaders) met and removed Duke’s name from the ballot list.
- Duke and other plaintiffs (including supporters) sued state and party officials, alleging that excluding Duke:
  - Burdened their First Amendment rights of political speech and association, and
  - Violated the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses by discriminating against Duke’s views.
- In a prior appeal, the Eleventh Circuit had held the Committee functioned as an “arm of the state,” making its ballot decision state action.
- On remand, the district court granted summary judgment to defendants; plaintiffs appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether excluding Duke from the Republican presidential preference primary ballot, as state action, violated the First Amendment rights of Duke and his supporters.
2. Whether the exclusion violated the Fourteenth Amendment (equal protection and due process), including by impermissible viewpoint-based discrimination.
3. How to balance the plaintiffs’ asserted rights to participate in a party primary against the Republican Party’s First Amendment associational right to define its membership and message and to choose its candidates.

## Decision

- The Eleventh Circuit affirmed summary judgment for the defendants.
- The court held that, although the Committee’s decision constituted state action, excluding Duke from the Republican primary ballot did not violate the First or Fourteenth Amendments.
- The court concluded the Republican Party’s associational rights to define its message and select its standard-bearers justified refusing to place Duke on the party’s official primary ballot.
- The court found the burden on Duke and his supporters insufficient to outweigh the party’s autonomy, noting Duke was not excluded from the electoral process as a whole.

## Legal Principles

- State action triggers constitutional scrutiny, but does not eliminate a political party’s First Amendment right of political association.
- The First Amendment protects a political party’s authority to define the boundaries of its association and to select the individuals who represent it in elections.
- Compelling a political party to place an unwanted candidate on its official primary ballot can amount to compelled association and interfere with the party’s ability to express its political message.
- When evaluating ballot-access disputes in party primaries, courts weigh the character and magnitude of the burden on candidates and voters against the party’s and state’s asserted interests; exclusion may be upheld where the party’s associational interests predominate and alternative avenues for candidacy remain.

## Conclusion

The Eleventh Circuit upheld Georgia’s Republican presidential primary ballot exclusion of David Duke, holding that even where the selection committee’s action is treated as state action, the party’s First Amendment associational right to control its message and select its candidates permitted the refusal to list him on the party’s primary ballot.


Duke v. Massey, 87 F.3d 1226 (11th Cir. 1996)