Carney, Governor of DE v. Adams

For a judicial candidate to have standing to bring a claim regarding eligibility for the position, it must be shown that the candidate is “able and ready” to apply for a judicial vacancy in the immediate future and thus would suffer a concrete injury.

Within Delaware’s Constitution, there is the requirement that only a bare majority of judges “shall be of the same political party.” Art. IV, §3. The above requirement applies to five of the state’s major courts, three of those courts require that the other judges on the court be of the “other major political party.” Id. Respondent claimed the above requirements make him unable to become a judge while a member of the Independent Party, violative of his First Amendment right of freedom of association. The district court held that Respondent did have standing regarding both requirements. Whereas the Third Circuit held that Respondent had standing regarding the “major party” requirement but lacked standing regarding the “bare majority” requirement. The Court held that Respondent lacked standing because he could not show a personal or imminent injury as required under Article III standing. The Court reasoned that there was no injury in fact because Respondent did not provide evidence that he was “able and ready” to fill a judicial vacancy in the immediate future. Respondent simply had vague plans to apply for a judicial vacancy showing only a generalized grievance. REVERSED, VACATED, AND  REMANDED WITH INSTRUCTIONS TO DISMISS.