Louisiana Ex Rel. Gremillion v. National Ass'n for the Advancement of Colored People
Louisiana Ex Rel. Gremillion v. National Ass'n for the Advancement of Colored People
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court.
One of the suits that is consolidated in this appeal was instituted in 1956 by the then Attorney General of Louisiana against appellee, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, in a Louisiana court and sought to enjoin it from doing business in the State. It was removed to the federal court.
One of the two statutes of Louisiana in question prohibits any “non-trading” association from doing business in Louisiana if it is affiliated with any “foreign or out of state non-trading” association “any of the officers or members of the board of directors of which are members of Communist, Communist-front or subversive organizations, as cited by the House of Congress [sic] un-American Activities Committee, or the United States Attorney.”
The NAACP is a New York corporation with some forty-eight directors, twenty vice-presidents, and ten chief executive officers. Only a few reside or work in Louisiana. The District Court commented that the statute “would require the impossible” of the Louisiana residents or workers. 181 F. Supp., at 40. We have received no serious reply to that criticism. Such a requirement in a law compounds the vices present in statutes struck down on account of vagueness. Cf. Winters v. New York, 333 U. S. 507. It is not consonant with due process to require a person to swear to a fact that he cannot be expected to know (cf. Tot v. United States, 319 U. S. 463) or alternatively to refrain from a wholly lawful activity.
The other statute
We are told that this law was passed in 1924 to curb the Ku Klux Klan, but that it was never enforced against any other organization until this litigation started; that when the State brought its suit some affiliates of NAACP
We are in an area where, as Shelton v. Tucker, 364 U. S. 479, emphasized, any regulation must be highly selective in order to survive challenge under the First Amendment. As we there stated: “. . . even though the governmental purpose be legitimate and substantial, that purpose cannot be pursued by means that broadly stifle fundamental personal liberties when the end can be more narrowly achieved.” Id., 488.
The most frequent expressions of that view have been made in cases dealing with local ordinances regulating the distribution of literature. Broad comprehensive regulations of those First Amendment rights have been repeatedly struck down (Lovell v. Griffin, 303 U. S. 444; Schneider v. State, 308 U. S. 147; Cantwell v. Connecti
Our latest application of this principle was in Shelton v. Tucker, supra, where we held that, while a State has the undoubted right to inquire into the fitness and competency of its teachers, a detailed disclosure of every conceivable kind of associational tie a teacher has had probed into relationships that “could have no possible bearing upon the teacher’s occupational competence or fitness.” Id., 488.
At one extreme is criminal conduct which cannot have shelter in the First Amendment. At the other extreme are regulatory measures which, no matter how sophisticated, cannot be employed in purpose or in effect to stifle, penalize, or curb' the exercise of First Amendment rights. These lines mark the area in which the present controversy lies, as the District Court rightly observed.
Affirmed.
See also State v. N. A. A. C. P., 90 So. 2d 884.
La. Rev. Stat., 1950, § 14:385 (1958 Supp.).
La. Rev. Stat., 1950, § 14:386 (1958 Supp.).
La. Rev. Stat., 1950, §§ 12:401-409.
Concurring Opinion
whom
One of the important considerations that led to the enactment of the Norris-LaGuardia Act, 47 Stat. 70,
In this understanding I concur in the judgment of the Court.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- LOUISIANA Ex Rel. GREMILLION, ATTORNEY GENERAL, Et Al. v. NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE ET AL.
- Cited By
- 140 cases
- Status
- Published