The Republican Party in Missouri is defending a state law that allocates party positions based on gender. The Missouri Supreme Court ruled on the matter June 8 after Christian Tompras, a man, tried to run for the job of Republican committeewoman in St. Louis County. Local election officials turned him down, citing a state law that says “the membership of a county committee of each established political party shall consist of a man and a woman elected from each township or ward in the county.”

Mr. Tompras argued that the law violated his equal protection rights and should be struck down. The Missouri Supreme Court ruled against him, citing the state’s interest in allowing political parties the free association rights to govern themselves. The communications director of the Missouri Republican Party, Paul Sloca, told us that the party stands by its practice. “It’s equal representation: one man, one woman,” he said.

It’s possible to imagine the same logic being used to require the 50 states each to elect one man and one woman to the Senate. It’s an approach that some might favor but others reckon limits choices and places too much emphasis on what is, after all, just one of many aspects of a politician’s identity.

This isn’t the case of a political party or private group setting its own rules to run its own affairs. At issue is a state statute passed by the state legislature and implemented by a state-funded elections bureaucracy. The state itself argues for the quota on the grounds that these party positions are entry points into public office. Mr. Tompras’s lawyer, Howard Shalowitz, told us that he plans to petition the high court to hear this case. It certainly would be illuminating to see on which side emerges the most prominent Missouri Republican in Washington, Attorney General Ashcroft.