Voters cast their ballots in the presidential primary election on Super Tuesday, in Arlington, Va., on March 1, 2016. Monday, a federal judge blocked a state law that mandates all of Virginia's delegates to vote for whoever wins the party primaries, as the result of a lawsuit brought by a GOP delegate who says being forced to back Trump at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland this month is a violation of his First Amendment right to free speech. File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo

RICHMOND, Va., July 11 (UPI) -- A federal judge ruled Monday that Virginia law should not force all of the state's delegates to vote for one presidential candidate -- agreeing with a GOP delegate who claims his being forced to vote for Donald Trump at his party's nominating convention this month is a violation of his constitutional rights.

Under Virginia law and Republican National Committee rules, all delegates in the state must vote at the Republican National Convention for whoever won the party's primary. Trump won that contest on March 1 with 34 percent of the vote.


Delegate Carroll Correll, Jr., however, has said he does not want to vote for Trump at the July 18-19 convention in Cleveland, and filed a lawsuit stating the rules requiring him to do so violate his right to free speech.

Monday, Judge Robert Payne, of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, ruled that the state's law does indeed impose a "severe burden" on delegates' First Amendment rights and blocked the enforcement of the state's legal requirement.

However, Payne's ruling does not impact the RNC's rule that says all Virginia delegates must vote for the primary winner -- meaning the legal victory may be only symbolic. Payne said he lacked jurisdiction to dictate the rules of national political parties.

Nonetheless, Correll praised the ruling Monday.

"Delegates are free to vote their conscience and no amount of intimidation by the Trump campaign or meddling by Democrats in the Republican process will change that fact," Correll said in a statement Monday, released by Delegates Unbound, which funded the lawsuit. "Requiring delegates to vote for any candidate is unconstitutional and today's announcement is a blow to Trump's efforts."

"The right of delegates to vote their conscience won today," Delegates Unbound co-founder Eric O'Keefe said. "The Trump campaign joined forces with the Democratic party to strip delegates of their authority over the presidential nomination process, in opposition to the entirety of Republican Party history and the Constitution."

The RNC, however, also claimed victory with the part of Payne's ruling that said he lacked authority to force the committee to change its nominating rules.

"[The ruling] makes clear delegates are bound under national party rules," RNC spokesman Sean Spicer said via Twitter Monday.

RELATED Former GOP contender Cruz agrees to speak at Republican National Convention

"Today's decision in Correll upholds the right of political parties to set their own rules for national convention delegate selection and allocation," RNC spokeswoman Lindsay Walters added in an email to The Washington Post.

Monday's ruling was based on several hours of arguments during a hearing on the matter Thursday.

The office of Democratic Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring defended the state law that mandates all delegates vote for the primary winner.

"It's still up to the Republican Party to figure out how to resolve this internal dispute with dissatisfied delegates," Herring spokesman Michael Kelly said, "And the Commonwealth will not be able to pursue criminal charges against delegates no matter how they vote, which it had no intention of doing anyway."

The state has not yet decided if it will appeal Payne's ruling.