Tashjian, Secretary of State of Connecticut v. Republican Party of Connecticut et al.

Decided December 10, 1986. Thurgood Marshall delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 85-766 · 479 U.S. 208 (1986) · Cited 602 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 5–4.

“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.

• Anderson v. Celebrezze · 460 U.S. 780 (1983)
• Oregon v. Mitchell · 400 U.S. 112 (1970)
• Storer v. Brown · 415 U.S. 724 (1974)
• Rosario v. Rockefeller · 410 U.S. 752 (1973)
• Democratic Party of United States v. Wisconsin Ex Rel. La Follette · 450 U.S. 107 (1981)
• Kusper v. Pontikes · 414 U.S. 51 (1973)
• United States v. Classic · 313 U.S. 299 (1941)
• National Ass'n for the Advancement of Colored People v. Alabama Ex Rel. Patterson · 357 U.S. 449 (1958)
• Bates v. City of Little Rock · 361 U.S. 516 (1960)
• Buckley v. Valeo · 424 U.S. 1 (1976)
• Elrod v. Burns · 427 U.S. 347 (1976)
• National Ass'n for the Advancement of Colored People v. Button · 371 U.S. 415 (1963)
• West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette · 319 U.S. 624 (1943)
• Williams v. Rhodes · 393 U.S. 23 (1968)
• Wooley v. Maynard · 430 U.S. 705 (1977)
• Wesberry v. Sanders · 376 U.S. 1 (1964)
• Smith v. Allwright · 321 U.S. 649 (1944)
• Sweezy v. New Hampshire Ex Rel. Wyman · 354 U.S. 234 (1957)
• American Party of Texas v. White · 415 U.S. 767 (1974)
• Cousins v. Wigoda · 419 U.S. 477 (1975)

Cited by

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

• Clingman v. Beaver · 544 U.S. 581 (2005)
• California Democratic Party v. Jones · 530 U.S. 567 (2000)
• Eu v. San Francisco County Democratic Central Committee · 489 U.S. 214 (1989)
• Washington State Grange v. Washington State Republican Party · 552 U.S. 442 (2008)
• Timmons v. Twin Cities Area New Party · 520 U.S. 351 (1997)
• Burdick v. Takushi · 504 U.S. 428 (1992)
• Renne v. Geary · 501 U.S. 312 (1991)
• Arizona v. Inter Tribal Council of Ariz., Inc. · 570 U.S. 1 (2013)
• McCutcheon v. Federal Election Comm'n · 572 U.S. 185 (2014)
• New York State Bd. of Elections v. López Torres · 552 U.S. 196 (2008)
• U. S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton · 514 U.S. 779 (1995)
• Morse v. Republican Party of Virginia · 517 U.S. 186 (1996)
• McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission · 514 U.S. 334 (1995)
• Riley v. National Federation of Blind of North Carolina, Inc. · 487 U.S. 781 (1988)
• McConnell v. Federal Election Commission · 540 U.S. 93 (2003)
• Buckley v. American Constitutional Law Foundation, Inc. · 525 U.S. 182 (1999)
• Federal Election Commission v. Colorado Republican Federal Campaign Committee · 533 U.S. 431 (2001)

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).