Opinion · Supreme Court of the United States

Wieman v. Updegraff

344 U.S. 183

Type
Opinion
Court
Supreme Court of the United States
Jurisdiction
Federal
Date
1952-12-15
Topic
general

How later courts describe this case

  • holding that State cannot require employees to establish their loyalty by extracting oath denying past affiliation with Communist Party
  • holding that town could not attempt to condition defendant’s liberty on signing of waiver of right to file civil charges against town and police
  • holding unconstitutional a loyalty oath, required for public employment, that covered innocent as well as knowing membership in subversive organizations
  • requiring loyalty oaths of public employees violates due process because "[i]ndiscriminate classification of innocent with knowing activity must fall as an assertion of arbitrary power"
  • explaining in unconstitutional conditions case that to focus on "the facile generalization that there is no constitutionally protected right to public employment is to obscure the issue"
  • requiring loyalty oaths of public employees violates due process because “[(indiscriminate classification of innocent with knowing activity must fall as an assertion of arbitrary power”); Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 U. S. 510, 534-535 (1925
  • invalidating a statute that required state employees, including teachers, to take a loyalty oath forswearing communism
  • finding unconstitutional an Oklahoma law requiring public employees to take a loyalty oath, which required the employees to affirm, among other things, that they had not been "affiliated" with any subversive organizations

Citator

Wieman v. Updegraff has been questioned or limited by later authorities: relies on overruled authority: 72 S. Ct. 380 (overruled by Keyishian v. Board of Regents of Univ. of State of NY). Read them before relying on it. 864 later decisions cite it.

Authority status
caution
Cited by
864 opinions

Headnotes

  1. Constitutional Law — Due Process The Due Process Clause does not permit a state, in attempting to bar disloyal persons from public employment on the basis of organizational membership, to classify innocent with knowing association; a statute that disqualifies persons from state employment solely on the basis of membership in proscribed organizations, regardless of their knowledge concerning the activities and purposes of those organizations, offends due process. 344 U.S. at 190–191
  2. Constitutional Law — Public Employment Although an abstract right to public employment need not be recognized, the protection of the Due Process Clause extends to a public servant whose exclusion pursuant to a statute is patently arbitrary or discriminatory. 344 U.S. at 191–192
  3. Constitutional Law — Loyalty Oaths Where a state loyalty oath statute, as construed by the state's highest court, excludes persons from state employment solely on the basis of membership in organizations designated by the Attorney General of the United States as communist front or subversive, without any requirement that the person knew of the organizations' activities and purposes, the fact of membership alone disqualifies and the rule operates as a conclusive presumption of disloyalty, violating the Due Process Clause; legislation that bars disloyal persons from public employment on the basis of organizational membership is constitutionally sustainable only where scienter is implicit in the oath's terms. 344 U.S. at 189–191