Parker et al. v. County of Los Angeles et al. (338 U.S. 327)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided December 5, 1949 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 338 U.S. 327 · 70 S. Ct. 161
- Docket
- No. 49
- Argued
- November 8, 1949
- Decided
- December 5, 1949
- Term
- October Term 1949
- Vote
- 8–0
- Majority author
- Justice Frankfurter
- Issue area
- Judicial Power
- Disposition
- Petition denied or appeal dismissed
- 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 Frankfurter (wrote), Justice Reed, Justice Black
Opinion excerpt
Mr. Justice Frankfurter delivered the opinion of the Court. In No. 49, twenty-five classified civil servants of the County of Los Angeles brought an action in the Superior Court of that County, and in No. 50, suit was brought by one such employee. The respective plaintiffs sought relief against enforcement by the County and its officials of what is colloquially known as a loyalty test, and they did so for themselves and “in a representative capacity ... on behalf of 20,000 employees of Los Angeles County similarly situated.” The plaintiffs, petitioners here, alleged that on August 26, 1947, the Board of Supervisors of the County of Los Angeles adopted as part of its “Loyalty Check” program the requirement that all County employees execute a prescribed affidavit. It consisted of four parts, fully set forth in the Appendix. By Part A, each employee is required to support the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution and laws of the State of California; by Part B, he forswears that since December 7, 1941, he has been a member of any organization advocating the forcible overthrow of the Government of the United States or of the State of California or of the County of Los Angeles, that he now advocates such overthrow, or that he will in the future so advocate directly or through an organization; by Part C, he is required to list his aliases; and by Part D, he is…
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