State power over presidential ballots
Martinez-Ferrate v. Utah
In brief
- Where it stands
- Dismissed
Petition denied.
- What it’s about
- Martinez-Ferrate and other candidates seeking to serve as presidential electors challenge their removal from Utah’s general-election ballot after state officials found their pledged presidential candidate constitutionally ineligible.
- Who it affects
- The candidates did not get Supreme Court review of their challenge, and the Court did not resolve it.
Summary: written with AI from the case record.

What it's about
Their petition asks whether the state could make that eligibility decision and whether the removal gives them a legal right to sue.
The dispute concerns whether Utah could assess a presidential nominee’s eligibility while deciding which elector candidates appear on its ballot.
Question presented
1. Whether Presidential Elector Candidates suffer a concrete and particularized injury sufficient to establish Article III standing when state officials remove them from the general election ballot after determining that their Pledged Presidential Candidate is constitutionally ineligible. 2. Whether a State may deny ballot access to qualified Presidential Elector Candidates by adjudicating the constitutional eligibility of their Pledged Presidential Candidate where state law identifies the Presidential Electors, not the presidential nominee as the relevant ballot candidates. 3. Whether the decision below conflicts with this Court's precedents recognizing that exclusion from the ballot and burdens on political participation constitute judicially cognizable injuries under Article III. 4. Whether allowing individual States to determine presidential eligibility in a manner that excludes otherwise qualified Presidential Elector Candidates creates the very state-by-state inconsistency that this Court cautioned against in Trump v. Anderson.
Documents
Docket activity
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AI analysis generated: Case Briefing
AI analysis generated: Decision Record
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Sources
Primary materials plus reporting. Best-effort analysis: this explainer relies on a mix of primary materials and trusted secondary sources. Official filings and opinions remain authoritative.