ARIZONA FREE ENTERPRISE CLUB’S FREEDOM
CLUB PAC v. BENNETT
KAGAN, J., dissenting
to the election of representatives not beholden to the few,
but accountable to the many. The people of Arizona might
have expected a decent respect for those objectives. Today,
they do not get it. The Court invalidates Arizonans’ efforts
to ensure that in their State, “ ‘[t]he people. . . possess the
absolute sovereignty.’ ” Id., at 274 (quoting James Madison
in 4 Elliot’s Debates on the Federal Constitution 569–570 (1876)).
No precedent compels the Court to take this step; to the contrary,
today’s decision is in tension with broad swaths of our First Amendment
doctrine. No fundamental principle of our Constitution
backs the Court’s ruling; to the contrary, it is the law
struck down today that fostered both the vigorous competition
of ideas and its ultimate object—a government
responsive to the will of the people. Arizonans deserve
better. Like citizens across this country, Arizonans deserve
a government that represents and serves them all.
And no less, Arizonans deserve the chance to reform their
electoral system so as to attain that most American of
goals.
Truly, democracy is not a game. See ante, at 25.
I respectfully dissent.
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