Bost v. Illinois Bd. of Elections · ¶54

In any event, I agree that we need not “theorize” about the significance of these interests, for one thing is indisputably clear: Our democracy was founded on the “self-evident” truth that a government is legitimate only insofar as it derives its “just powers from the consent of the governed.” Declaration of Independence ¶2. Candidates come and go, but the voters' collective interest in the “right to elect legislators in a free and unimpaired fashion” is enduring and indispensable. Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U. S. 533, 562 (1964). Against this backdrop, the Court's effort to isolate and elevate a candidate's “distinct” interest in electoral integrity, ante, at 78, falls fat.

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