Beau Correll, a Republican National Convention delegate who served as one of Cruz’s campaign co-chairs in Virginia’s 10th district, is the only named plaintiff in the suit, but he’s filed it on behalf of Virginia’s 49 Republican and 110 Democratic delegates.
It challenges a Virginia law that states: “Delegates and alternates shall be bound to vote on the first ballot at the national convention for the candidate receiving the most votes in the primary unless that candidate releases those delegates and alternates from such vote.”
The complaint reads: “The First Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees delegates to the Republican Party’s and Democratic Party’s national conventions the right to vote their conscience, free from government compulsion, when participating in the selection of their party’s presidential nominee.
Nonetheless, Virginia law acts to strip them of that right, imposing criminal penalties on delegates who vote for anyone other than the primary winner on the first ballot at a national convention. That law cannot be sustained under the First Amendment or as a legitimate exercise of Virginia’s authority under the United States Constitution.”
“Based on these reports, Correll is concerned that voting against Trump at the convention may subject him to retaliatory litigation by Trump, Trump’s campaign, or other persons or entities associated with Trump, based in part on Section 545(D),” the complaint reads.
Correll’s attorneys filed an injunction declaring Correll will need protection from prosecution under the state law because he plans to vote against Trump at the convention.
“Correll, like many other Republicans, refuses to cast his first-ballot vote—or any other vote—for Virginia primary winner Donald Trump because Correll believes that Trump is unfit to serve as President of the United States. Yet, if he does not vote for Trump, he faces criminal penalties, including fines and imprisonment,” they write in the injunction.