Delaware Judicial Partisan-Balance Rule Gets High Court Look (1)

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to rule on the constitutionality of Delaware’s requirement of a partisan balance on its top courts, which play an outsize role in American corporate governance.

The justices said Friday they will review a federal appeals court’s conclusion that the Delaware rules violate the First Amendment. Delaware requires judges to be either Republicans or Democrats, something no other state does, and bars either party from holding more than a one-vote majority on its most important courts.

Delaware said in its appeal that its state constitution has required a politically-balanced judiciary for more than 120 years. The ...