Antonin Scalia

“ It does not care if all of the support for the Harold Washington Party, in each district-wide election, comes from a single ward-just as it does not care, in statewide elections, if all of a new party's support comes from a single county. ”

“ Illinois has simply taken us at our word. Nor does this amount to an irrational failure to "apportion." Illinois' genuine minimum, we must recall, is a percentage (5%) of the votes in the prior election, which of course automatically adjusts for the size of the electoral unit. The 25,000 figure is simply a cap upon that minimum, and it is not at all reasonable to think an "apportionment" of that cap will assure serious voter support. ”

“ Socialist Workers Party involved a challenge to Illinois' then-requirement that, in elections for offices in political subdivisions of the State, new political parties (and independent candidates) had to obtain the signatures of 5% of the number of persons who voted at the previous election for those offices, no matter how high that number might be-even though new parties could qualify for statewide elections by gathering only 25,000 signatures. ”