Gerende v. Board of Supervisors of Elections of Baltimore (341 U.S. 56)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided April 12, 1951 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 341 U.S. 56 · 71 S. Ct. 565
- Docket
- No. 577
- Argued
- April 9, 1951
- Decided
- April 12, 1951
- Term
- October Term 1950
- Vote
- 9–0
- Issue area
- First Amendment
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
How the Justices voted
- Majority
- Chief Justice Vinson, Justice Minton, Justice Clark, Justice Burton, Justice R. H. Jackson, Justice Douglas, Justice Frankfurter, Justice Black
- Concurring in the judgment
- Justice Reed
Opinion excerpt
Per Curiam. This is an appeal from a decision of the Court of Appeals of the State of Maryland the effect of which is to deny the appellant a place on the ballot for a municipal election in the City of Baltimore on the ground that she has refuséd to file an affidavit required by state law. Md. Laws 1949, c. 86, § 15. -Md.-, 78 A. 2d 660. The scope of the state law was passed on in Shub v. Simpson, - Md. -, 76 A. 2d 332. We read this decision to hold that to obtain a place on a Maryland ballot a candidate need only make oath that he is not a person who is engaged “in one way or another in the attempt to overthrow the government by force or violence,” and that he is not knowingly a member of an organization engaged in such an attempt. -Md. at-, 76 A. 2d at 338. At the bar of this Court the Attorney General of the State of Maryland declared that he would advise the proper authorities to accept an affidavit in these terms as satisfying in full the statutory requirement. Under these circumstances and with this understanding, the judgment of the Maryland Court of Appeals is Affirmed. Mr. Justice Reed concurs in the result.
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