Garner v. Board of Public Works

Garner v. Board of Public Works
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued April 25, 1951 Decided June 4, 1951
Full case name	Garner, et al. v. Board of Public Works of Los Angeles, et al.
Citations	341 U.S. 716 (more) 71 S.Ct. 909; 95 L.Ed. 1317
Prior history	From the District Court of Appeal of California, Second Appellate District
Holding
A municipal loyalty oath which required an oath and affidavit about one's beliefs and actions for the previous five years and which was enacted more than five years previous is not an ex post facto law nor a bill of attainder
Court membership
Case opinions
Majority	Clark, joined by Vinson, Reed, Frankfurter (in part), Jackson, Burton (in part), Minton
Dissent	Burton (in part)
Dissent	Frankfurter (in part)
Dissent	Douglas, joined by Black
Dissent	Black

Garner v. Board of Public Works, 341 U.S. 716 (1951), is a ruling by the United States Supreme Court which held that a municipal loyalty oath which required an oath and affidavit about one's beliefs and actions for the previous five years and which was enacted more than five years previous is not an ex post facto law nor a bill of attainder.

In 1941, the California State Legislature amended the charter of the city of Los Angeles so that no person could obtain or retain public employment with the city if they advocated the violent overthrow of either the state or federal government, belonged to any organization that did so advocate, or had advocated or been a member of an organization which advocated such action in the last five years. In 1948, the city of Los Angeles passed local ordinance No, 94,004, which required all employees to take the loyalty oath.

Fifteen employees with the Los Angeles Board of Public Works refused to execute the required affidavit. At an administrative hearing on January 6, 1949, all 15 individuals were fired. They sued for back pay and reinstatement in their jobs, claiming that the oath and the affidavit they were required to execute constituted a bill of attainder and an ex post facto law. The District Court of Appeals denied relief.

The petitioners then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which granted certiorari.

Associate Justice Tom C. Clark wrote the opinion for the majority.

Clark discussed the oath and the affidavit separately. In three sentences, Clark held that since past actions and beliefs may impugn present fitness for duty, the affidavit was justified. The question for the oath (which reached back five years into the past) was its constitutionality, and here Clark relied heavily on United Public Workers v. Mitchell, 330 U.S. 75 (1947), to answer that the oath was valid. Since the charter change had occurred seven years before, and the oath reached back only five years, the oath was also not a bill of attainder or ex post facto law. Clark distinguished United States v. Lovett, 328 U.S. 303 (1946), which was not a general law establishing qualifications for office but which specifically named certain individuals and required their separation from government service.