“ The Court of Appeals, however, accepted the Committee's determination that the privilege had been properly invoked and it further held that no inference of Communist Party membership could be drawn from such a refusal to testify. It found the statute to impose merely a condition on public employment and affirmed the summary action taken in the case. With this conclusion we cannot agree.
At the outset we must condemn the practice of imputing a sinister meaning to the exercise of a person's constitutional right under the Fifth Amendment. ”

“ Updegraff, 344 U.S. 183, 73 S.Ct. 215, 97 L.Ed. 216, we struck down a so-called 'loyalty oath' because it based employability solely on the fact of membership in certian organizations. We pointed out that membership itself may be innocent and held that the classification of innocent and guilty together was arbitrary. [5] This case rests squarely on the proposition that 'constitutional protection does extend to the public servant whose exclusion pursuant to a statute is patently arbitrary or discriminatory.' 344 U.S. at page 192, 73 S.Ct. ”

“ The heavy hand of the statute falls alike on all who exercise their constitutional privilege, the full enjoyment of which every person is entitled to receive. Such action falls squarely within the prohibition of Wieman v. Updegraff, supra.
It is one thing for the city authorities themselves to inquire into Slochower's fitness, but quite another for his discharge to be based entirely on events occurring before a federal committee whose inquiry was announced as not directed at 'the property, affairs, or government of the city, or . ”

“ Slochower had 27 years' experience as a college teacher and was entitled to tenure under state law. McKinney's New York Consol.Laws, c. 16, Education Law, § 6206 (2) . Under this statute, appellant may be discharged only for cause, and after notice, hearing, and appeal. § 6206 (10) . The Court of Appeals of New York, however, has authoritatively interpreted § 903 to mean that 'The assertion of the privilege against self incrimination is equivalent to a resignation'. ”