Illinois State Board of Elections v. Socialist Workers Party et al.

Decided February 22, 1979. Thurgood Marshall delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 77-1248 · 440 U.S. 173 (1979) · Cited 844 times

We don’t yet publish a summary of this opinion — read the official text below for the Court’s holding and reasoning.

How the Justices voted

Decided 9–0.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Williams v. Rhodes · 393 U.S. 23 (1968)
• Moore v. Ogilvie · 394 U.S. 814 (1969)
• Lubin v. Panish · 415 U.S. 709 (1974)
• Dunn v. Blumstein · 405 U.S. 330 (1972)
• Weinstein v. Bradford · 423 U.S. 147 (1975)
• Storer v. Brown · 415 U.S. 724 (1974)
• Bullock v. Carter · 405 U.S. 134 (1972)
• American Party of Texas v. White · 415 U.S. 767 (1974)
• Fusari v. Steinberg · 419 U.S. 379 (1975)
• Edelman v. Jordan · 415 U.S. 651 (1974)
• Reynolds v. Sims · 377 U.S. 533 (1964)
• Usery v. Turner Elkhorn Mining Co. · 428 U.S. 1 (1976)
• DeFunis v. Odegaard · 416 U.S. 312 (1974)
• Wesberry v. Sanders · 376 U.S. 1 (1964)
• Kramer v. Union Free School District No. 15 · 395 U.S. 621 (1969)
• United States v. New York Telephone Co. · 434 U.S. 159 (1977)
• Jenness v. Fortson · 403 U.S. 431 (1971)
• Memorial Hospital v. Maricopa County · 415 U.S. 250 (1974)
• Webster v. Fall · 266 U.S. 507 (1925)
• Kusper v. Pontikes · 414 U.S. 51 (1973)
• Mandel v. Bradley · 432 U.S. 173 (1977)
• Securities & Exchange Commission v. Sloan · 436 U.S. 103 (1978)
• McCarthy v. Philadelphia Civil Service Commission · 424 U.S. 645 (1976)
• Delaware Tribal Business Committee v. Weeks · 430 U.S. 73 (1977)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• Norman v. Reed · 502 U.S. 279 (1992)
• Clements v. Fashing · 457 U.S. 957 (1982)
• Anderson v. Celebrezze · 460 U.S. 780 (1983)
• Eu v. San Francisco County Democratic Central Committee · 489 U.S. 214 (1989)
• Munro v. Socialist Workers Party · 479 U.S. 189 (1986)
• Comptroller of Treasury of Md. v. Wynne · 575 U.S. 542 (2015)
• Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp. v. Public Service Commission · 447 U.S. 557 (1980)
• Widmar v. Vincent · 454 U.S. 263 (1981)
• United States v. Playboy Entertainment Group, Inc. · 529 U.S. 803 (2000)
• Thompson v. Western States Medical Center · 535 U.S. 357 (2002)
• Bell v. Wolfish · 441 U.S. 520 (1979)
• Honig v. Doe · 484 U.S. 305 (1988)
• Murphy v. Hunt · 455 U.S. 478 (1982)
• Burdick v. Takushi · 504 U.S. 428 (1992)
• Metromedia, Inc. v. City of San Diego · 453 U.S. 490 (1981)
• Edgar v. Mite Corp. · 457 U.S. 624 (1982)
• City of Mobile v. Bolden · 446 U.S. 55 (1980)
• United States v. Shabani · 513 U.S. 10 (1994)
• Timmons v. Twin Cities Area New Party · 520 U.S. 351 (1997)
• Crawford v. Marion County Election Board · 553 U.S. 181 (2008)
• City of Akron v. Akron Center for Reproductive Health, Inc. · 462 U.S. 416 (1983)
• Arkansas Educational Television Commission v. Forbes · 523 U.S. 666 (1998)
• Nixon v. Shrink Missouri Government PAC · 528 U.S. 377 (2000)
• Ashcroft v. American Civil Liberties Union · 542 U.S. 656 (2004)
• Supreme Court of NH v. Piper · 470 U.S. 274 (1985)
• Jesner v. Arab Bank, PLC · 584 U.S. 241 (2018)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

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Source: the U.S. Reports via govinfo.gov; authoring Justice and vote lineup from the Supreme Court Database (Washington University). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).