Republican Party of Connecticut v. Tashjian

IRVING R. KAUFMAN, Circuit Judge:

Fascinated by the penchant of Americans to band together and gather strength from association, Alexis de Tocqueville wrote:

The most natural privilege of man, next to the right of acting for himself, is that of combining his exertions with those of his fellow creatures, and of acting in common with them. The right of association therefore appears to me almost as inalienable in its nature as the *267right of personal liberty. No legislator can attack it without impairing the foundations of society.

A. de Tocqueville, 2 Democracy in America 203 (Bradley, ed. 1954).

It…