Communist Party v. Subversive Activities Control Board
| Communist Party v. Subversive Activities Control Board | |
|---|---|
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| Argued November 17, 1955 Decided April 30, 1956 |
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| Full case name | Communist Party of the United States v. Subversive Activities Control Board |
| Citations | 351 U.S. 115 (more) |
| Court membership | |
| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Frankfurter, joined by Warren, Black, Douglas, Burton, Harlan II |
| Dissent | Clark, joined by Reed, Minton |
Communist Party of the United States v. Subversive Activities Control Board, 351 U.S. 115 (1956) and 367 U.S. 1 (1961), was a Cold War-era federal court case in the United States involving the compelled registration of the Communist Party of the United States, under a statute requiring that all organizations determined to be directed or controlled by the "world Communist movement" publicly disclose detailed information as to their officers, funds, and membership.
The case resulted in two opinions from the Supreme Court of the United States, the second of which upheld the constitutionality of the registration requirement against challenges brought under the First and Fifth Amendments.
In 1950, during the part of the Cold War that is now labeled the Second Red Scare, the United States Congress passed the Subversive Activities Control Act of 1950. Its findings read, in part:
The Act required any organization qualifying as either a "communist-action" organization or a "communist-front" organization to register with the Attorney General of the United States and provided detailed information about their operations, including offices, finances, printing presses, names and addresses of officers, and in the case of "communist-action" organizations—those determined to be "substantially directed, dominated, or controlled by the foreign government or foreign organization controlling the world Communist movement...and...[that] operates primarily to advance the objectives of such world Communist movement—names and addresses of members. This registry was to be updated annually by the organization, kept available to the public by the Attorney General, and be the basis for an annual report by the Attorney General to Congress.
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