Jerry Rubin v. City of Santa Monica Maria M. Stewart, City Clerk Does 1-5, Inclusive, Bill Jones, Secretary of State

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• holding that there was no severe burden where a ballot restriction was applicable to all candidates
• concluding that law limiting how a peace activist candidate “may describe his occupation on the ballot” did not impose a severe burden because candidate retained ample alternative channels “for communicating his peace activities to the public”
• concluding minimal burden of omitting candidate’s occupation on ballot justified by important state interest in avoiding voter confusion, because occupation of “peace activist” was misleading
• explaining that the candidate’s ability to submit a “Candidate’s Statement” in a “Voter Information Pamphlet” served to “greatly decrease[] the burden imposed by the ballot restriction [on the designation of one’s occupation]”
• holding city’s refusal to allow candidate “to designate his occupation as ‘peace activist’ on the city election ballot” only minimally burdened his right to free speech, as candidate had ample alternative channels “for communicating his peace activities to the public”
• weighing the government’s “important regulatory interest in predictable and administrable election rules” against challenge to regulation on how candidates are identified on the ballot

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).