Monumental Win – Commonwealth Court Affirms That Political Parties Are Not Above the Law

Yesterday, in a case of first impression, Attorney Andrew Teitelman and Chief Counsel Joshua Prince secured a monumental victory from the Commonwealth Court in Casper, et al. v. Bucks County Republican Party, et al., where the court affirmed, contrary to the arguments put forth by the Republican Party of Pennsylvania and the Bucks County GOP, that political parties are not above the law and must comply with their bylaws, in addition to, Pennsylvania’s Nonprofit Corporation/Association and Election laws.

Specifically, in distinguishing the case from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s prior precedent, President Judge Emerita, Mary Hannah Leavitt, writing for the court, declared, “Bentman and Mohn did not consider or address either the Nonprofit Corporation Law or the Nonprofit Association Law. Each case concerned whether persons elected to serve in a position of party leadership were qualified to serve under rules developed by the political party for the purpose of ensuring party loyalty, i.e., a purely political matter … [Thus] Bentman and Mohn established that a political party’s ability to qualify its leaders on purely ideological grounds is not a matter amenable to judicial intervention.” Or stated slightly differently, “[t]he mere fact that a committeeperson is chosen in a general primary election does not establish the requisite state action” to confer jurisdiction on the courts.

However, in this matter, the Commonwealth Court found that “[t]here is a state interest in having political parties conduct their member votes in a lawful manner” because otherwise, among other things, “the state has an interest in ensuring that control of a political party, or any organization operating under authority of state law, is not seized by illegal means, such as the use of unlawful voting procedures.”

Boiled down to its most simplistic terms, while the courts do not have jurisdiction to decide intra-party political disputes, the courts do have jurisdiction to address violations by a political party of its bylaws, as well as, the Commonwealth’s nonprofit and election laws.

You can download a copy of the 32 page decision here.

Please join us in congratulating Andy and Josh on an unparalleled trackrecord of success before the Commonwealth Court (and other courts throughout this Commonwealth) in arguing the law and constitution over politics!

2 thoughts on “Monumental Win – Commonwealth Court Affirms That Political Parties Are Not Above the Law”

Another outstanding win Josh! Thank you for all that you do!

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it’s a great win! Thank you Messrs Prince and Teitelman for a job very well done and for sacrificing your time and efforts for the greater good of Pennsylvania’s Republican Party. Although I hear this ruling will apply to Democrats too. Now let’s make sure new, fair bylaws get enforced.

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