American Communications Assn., C. I. O., et al. v. Douds, Regional Director of the National Labor Relations Board (339 U.S. 382)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided May 8, 1950 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 339 U.S. 382 · 70 S. Ct. 674
- Docket
- No. 10
- Argued
- October 10, 1949
- Decided
- May 8, 1950
- Term
- October Term 1949
- Vote
- 5–1
- Majority author
- Justice Vinson
- Issue area
- First Amendment
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
How the Justices voted
- Majority
- Chief Justice Vinson (wrote), Justice Burton, Justice Frankfurter (wrote a concurrence), Justice Reed
- Concurring in the judgment
- Justice R. H. Jackson (wrote)
- Dissenting
- Justice Black (wrote)
Opinion excerpt
Mr. Chief Justice Vinson delivered the opinion of the Court. These cases present for decision the constitutionality of § 9 (h) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended by the Labor Management Relations Act, 1947. This section, commonly referred to as the non-Communist affidavit provision, reads as follows: “No investigation shall be made by the [National Labor Relations] Board of any question affecting commerce concerning the representation of employees, raised by a labor organization under subsection (c) of this section, no petition under section 9 (e) (1) shall be entertained, and no complaint shall be issued pursuant to a charge made by a labor organization under subsection (b) of section 10, unless there is on file with the Board an affidavit executed contemporaneously or within the preceding twelve-month period by each officer of such labor organization and the officers of any national or international labor organization of which it is an affiliate or constituent unit that he is not a member of the Communist Party or affiliated with such party, and that he does not believe in, and is not a member of or supports any organization that believes in or teaches, the overthrow of the United States Government by force or by any illegal or unconstitutional methods. The provisions of section 35 A of the Criminal Code shall be applicable in respect to such affidavits.” In…
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