Peters v. Hobby et al. (349 U.S. 331)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 6, 1955 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 349 U.S. 331 · 75 S. Ct. 790
- Docket
- No. 376
- Argued
- April 19, 1955
- Decided
- June 6, 1955
- Term
- October Term 1954
- Vote
- 7–2
- Majority author
- Justice Warren
- Issue area
- First Amendment
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
How the Justices voted
- Majority
- Chief Justice Warren (wrote), Justice Harlan, Justice Black (wrote a concurrence), Justice Clark, Justice Frankfurter, Justice Minton
- Concurring in the judgment
- Justice Douglas (wrote)
- Dissenting
- Justice Burton, Justice Reed (wrote)
Opinion excerpt
Mr. Chief Justice Warren delivered the opinion of the Court. This action was instituted by petitioner in the District Court for the District of Columbia. The principal relief sought is a declaration that petitioner’s removal and debarment from federal employment were invalid. Prior to trial, the District Court granted the respondents’ motion for judgment on the pleadings. The judgment was affirmed, one judge dissenting, by the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, relying on its decision in Bailey v. Richardson, 86 U. S. App. D. C. 248, 182 P. 2d 46, sustained here by an equally divided vote, 341 U. S. 918. We granted certiorari, 348 U. S. 882, because the case appeared to present the same constitutional question left unresolved by this Court’s action in Bailey v. Richardson, supra. I. The basic facts are undisputed. Petitioner is a professor of medicine, specializing in the study of metabolism, at Yale University. For several years prior to 1953, because of his eminence in the field of medical science, he was employed as a Special Consultant in the United States Public Health Service of the Federal Security Agency. On April 10, 1953, the functions of the Federal Security Agency were transferred to the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, headed by respondent Hobby. Petitioner’s duties required his presence in Washington from four to ten days each…
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