While not formally one of the national political

Last updated: 5/17/2023

While not formally one of the national political institutions political parties today are nonetheless major players in both national and state politics They have long provided what may be considered quasi governmental services including candidate recruitment the operation of political campaigns and the supervision of the voting process As with the federal bureaucracy political parties are important extra constitutional political institutions that have been essentially grafted onto our separation of powers system The ambiguity surrounding the proper institutional role that parties should conceptually play in American politics has posed vexing problems for the courts in balancing party independence with government supervision In order to ascertain the role that political parties should play within our political system it is useful to see them as informal parts of the larger system of separation of powers If parties are seen as part of this larger system then it follows that they are entitled to a certain amount of judicial protection to ensure their integrity and independence Robert C Wington American Political Parties Under the First Amendment 1999 Which function of political parties is addressed in the excerpt 4 points They check government power They are formal institutions of the federal bureaucracy They make long term plans to ensure party dominance They organize the legislative branch through congressional leadership positions