# Oklahoma State Election Board v. Coats

> Supreme Court of Oklahoma · April 21, 1980 · 610 P.2d 776

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9564101

## Case

- **Full name:** OKLAHOMA STATE ELECTION BOARD, Grace Huddlin, in Her Official Capacity as Chairman of the Oklahoma State Election Board; Drew Neville, in His Official Capacity as Member of the Oklahoma State Election Board, and Lee Slater, in His Official Capacity as Secretary of the Oklahoma State Election Board, Appellants, v. Andy COATS, Appellee
- **Court:** Supreme Court of Oklahoma
- **Decided:** April 21, 1980
- **Citations:** 610 P.2d 776; 1980 OK 65; 1980 Okla. LEXIS 242
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Dissent by Simms
- **Judges:** Hodges, Lavender, Irwin, Williams, Reynolds, Doolin, Hargrave, Opala, Simms, Barnes
- **Cited by:** 18 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9564101

## Opinion text

SIMMS, Justice,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent.
The statute in question, 19 O.S.Supp.1974, § 215.8, imposes additional qualifications on candidates seeking nominations for the United States Congress. A state may not through its Constitution or statutes, add to or take away from the qualifications for a member of Congress prescribed by the Constitution of the United States.
We have already passed on this question. In Riley v. Cordell, 200 Okl. 390 , 194 P.2d 859 (1948), the first syllabus by the Court provides:
“The provisions of Article I, Section 3, of the Constitution of the United States prescribing the qualifications of United States Senators are exclusive, and 20 O.S. 1941 , § 5, providing that ‘no justice of the Supreme Court shall become, during the term for which he may be elected or appointed, a candidate for any office other than a judicial position’, does not prevent a justice of the Supreme Court of Oklahoma from becoming a candidate for the nomination for United States Senator.”
Other courts have reached the same result when presented with the question, see e. g., Stockton v. McFarland, 56 Ariz. 138 , 106 P.2d 328 (1940); State v. Crane, 65 Wyo. 189 , 197 P.2d 864 (1948); Wettengel v. Zimmerman, 249 Wis. 237 , 24 N.W.2d 504 (1946).
The fact that we may have other statutes which also impose similar unconstitutional restrictions upon other officers of the state who choose to run for federal office, affords no support for upholding this statute.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9564101. Public record. Not legal advice.