Avallon v. Riverside Democrats, Inc.

The issue is whether petitioners-appellants, members of an incorporated political club, are entitled to copy or use its membership list in furtherance of their efforts to attain elective office within the club. The judgment below, dismissing the petition, should be reversed. The club’s refusal to mate its membership list available to members seeking office in the club represents an illegal and paradoxical restriction of the democratic processes in an organization which by its nature should be particularly sensitive to and observant of them.

Chief among the grounds urged by the club in…