Justices Again Reject State’s Open Primary

The state of Washington on Monday lost an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to save its wide-open primary election system, an expected setback that forces state leaders to find a new way for political parties to choose candidates for office.

The high court had already ruled that so-called blanket primaries, which had also been used in Alaska and California, were unconstitutional.

Washington, the last holdout for blanket primaries, argued its system was different and urged the court to intervene to keep it intact. Justices declined without comment.

The state’s nearly 70-year-old system allows voters to pick nominees from any political party, which the Supreme Court said in 2000 violates the political parties’ right to choose their own nominees.

Washington state lawmakers have been reviewing other options, such as Louisiana’s system, which sends the top two primary vote-getters into the general election, regardless of their party label, or requiring voters to choose among candidates of one party only.

In other action Monday, the court said it would decide whether the government could send immigrants back to countries that had not agreed to accept them, something their advocates contended threatens their safety.

Lawyers for a refugee who had been ordered returned to Somalia argued that the U.S. government had started shipping immigrants to home countries that were in no position to take them.