In the 1982 case Anderson et al. v. Celebrezze, Secretary of State of Ohio, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of independent presidential candidate John B. Anderson who had challenged an Ohio law that required independent candidates to file their candidacy papers by March - seven months before the general election and three months before major party candidates were chosen at national conventions. The court held that this early filing deadline violated Anderson's rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments as it placed an unconstitutional burden on his campaign by limiting his ability to build support among voters who might prefer him over a major party nominee selected later in the year.

In the dissenting opinion for Anderson et al. v. Celebrezze, Justice Blackmun argued that Ohio's early filing deadline was not unconstitutional and did not violate any fundamental rights of presidential candidate John B. Anderson or his supporters. He emphasized that states have a legitimate interest in setting reasonable deadlines to ensure orderly election processes and to avoid voter confusion caused by last-minute changes in candidates on the ballot paper. Furthermore, he pointed out that Anderson had ample time to comply with Ohio's requirements but chose not to do so until it was too late, suggesting this case is more about an individual failing to meet established rules rather than those rules being inherently unfair or discriminatory.