BAN:

On January 9, the Fourth Circuit issued a 24-page opinion in Sixth Congressional District Republican Committee v Alcorn, 18-1111. The opinion strikes down the Virginia election law that lets incumbents who are running for re-election dictate to their own party, how that party nominates in that particular race. Generally parties in Virginia are free to choose primary or convention, but the law at issue curtailed the party of the power to choose, when the incumbent running for re-election didn’t agree with the party’s wishes. The decision is by Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson, a Reagan appointee. It is also signed by Judge Diana Gribbon Motz, a Clinton appointee; and Judge Allyson K. Duncan, a Bush Jr. appointee.