Arthur Goldberg

“ Moreover, even to say, as in Barenblatt, supra, 360 U.S., at 129, 79 S.Ct., at 1094, that it is permissible to inquire into the subject of Communist infiltration of educational or other organizations does not mean that it is permissible to demand or require from such other groups disclosure of their membership by inquiry into their records when such disclosure will seriously inhibit or impair the exercise of constitutional rights and has not itself been demonstrated to bear a crucial relation to a proper governmental interest or to be essential to fulfillment of a proper governmental purpose. ”

“ The concurring opinion concluded that 'Whatever, on the basis of massive proof and in the light of history, of which this Court may well take judicial notice, be the justification for not regarding the Communist Party as a conventional political party, no such justification has been afforded in regard to the Progressive Party. A foundation in fact and reason would have to be established far weightier than the intimations that appear in the record to warrant such a view of the Progressive Party. ”

“ Mere presence at a public meeting or bare membership-without more-is not infiltration of the sponsoring organization.
It also appears that a number of the 14 persons named by Strickland were no longer even residents of Florida; as to these people, it is difficult to see any basis for supposing that they would be current-much less influential-members of the Miami branch of the N.A.A.C.P., and no other pertinent reason for the inquiry as to them could be found because, as the petitioner testified, the only membership records available related to the then current year. ”

“ While, of course, all legitimate organizations are the geneficiaries of these protections, they are all the more essential here, where the challenged privacy is that of persons espousing beliefs already unpopular with their neighbors and the deterrent and 'chilling' effect on the free exercise of constitutionally enshrined rights of free speech, expression, and association is consequently the more immediate and substantial. ”

“ This is not a case in which, after a proper foundation has been laid, a Communist is himself interrogated about his own alleged subversive activities or those of the Communist Party, all as part of an inquiry related to what this Court has held to be a legitimate legislative purpose to investigate the activities of the party or its knowing members. ”

“ Each year since 1950, the N.A.A.C.P. has adopted resolutions barring Communists from membership in the organization. Moreover, the petitioner testified that all prospective officers of the local organization are thoroughly investigated for Communist or subversive connections and, though subversive activities constitute grounds for termination of association membership, no such expulsions from the branch occurred during the five years preceding the investigation. ”

“ Without any indication of present subversive infiltration in, or influence on, the Miami branch of the N.A.A.C.P., and without any reasonable, demonstrated factual basis to believe that such infiltration or influence existed in the past, or was actively attempted or sought in the present-in short without any showing of a meaningful relationship between the N.A.A.C.P., Miami branch, and subversives or subversive or other illegal activities-we are asked to find the compelling and subordinating state interest which must exist if essential freedoms are to be curtailed or inhibited. ”

“ Alabama, supra, 357 U.S., at 462, 78 S.Ct., at 1171, 'It is hardly a novel perception that compelled disclosure of affiliation with groups engaged in advocacy may constitute (an) * * * effective * * * restraint on freedom of association * * *. This Court has recognized the vital relationship between freedom to associate and privacy in one's associations. * * * Inviolability of privacy in group association may in many circumstances be indispensable to preservation of freedom of association, particularly where a group espouses dissident beliefs.' So it is here. ”

“ The testimony of Sands, the other assertedly important witness, added not even a semblance of anything more convincing with regard to the existence of a connection between subversion and the N.A.A.C.P. Sands, whose officership in the association predated 1950 and who admitted that he was uncertain even as to his then current membership in the N.A.A.C.P., merely corroborated to some extent certain of Strickland's references to attendance at N.A.A.C.P. meetings by a few of the persons identified as Communists. ”

“ Button, supra, with respect to the State of Virginia is as appears from the record, equally applicable here: 'We cannot close our eyes to the fact that the militant Negro civil rights movement has engendered the intense resentment and opposition of the politically dominant white community * * *.' 371 U.S., at 435, 83 S.Ct., at 339. ”