Source: http://candst.tripod.com/crs1sta6.htm
Timestamp: 2019-04-24 14:11:46+00:00

Document:
But matters are not so simple.
(1950); Bond v. Floyd, 385 U.S. 116, 132 (1966); Speiser v. Randall, 357 U.S. 513 (1958); Baird v. State Bar of Arizona, 401 U.S. 1, 5-6 (1971), and id. at 9-10 (Justice Stewart concurring).
170 West Virginia State Bd. of Educ. v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624, 642 (1943).
171Cantwell v. Connecticut, 310 U.S. 296, 303 (1940).
172 West Virginia State Bd. of Educ. v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624 (1943).
173 310 U.S. 586 (1940).
174 Id. at 594. Justice Stone alone dissented, arguing that the First Amendment religion and speech clauses forbade coercion of "these children to express a sentiment which, as they interpret it, they do not entertain, and which violates their deepest religious convictions." Id. at 601.
175 West Virginia State Bd. of Educ. v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624 (1943). Justices Roberts and Reed simply noted their continued adherence to Gobitis. Id. at 642. Justice Frankfurter dissented at some length, denying that the First Amendment authorized the Court "to deny to the State of West Virginia the attainment of that which we all recognize as a legitimate legislative end, namely, the promotion of good citizenship, by employment of the means here chosen." Id. at 646, 647.
176 Id. at 631, 633.
177 Id. at 633-34. Barnette was the focus of the Court's decision in Wooley v. Maynard, 430 U.S. 705 (1977), voiding the state's requirement that motorists display auto license plates bearing the motto "Live Free or Die." Acting on the complaint of a Jehovah's Witness, the Court held that one may not be compelled to display on his private property a message making an ideological statement. Compare PruneYard Shopping Center v. Robins, 447 U.S. 74, 85-88 (1980), and id. at 96 (Justice Powell concurring).
178Cole v. Richardson, 405 U.S. 676 (1972); Connell v. Higginbotham, 403 U.S. 207 (1971); Bond v. Floyd, 385 U.S. 116 (1966); Knight v. Board of Regents, 269 F. Supp. 339 (S.D.N.Y. 1967) (three-judge court), aff'd, 390 U.S. 36 (1968); Hosack v. Smiley, 276 F. Supp. 876 (C.D. Colo. 1967) (three-judge court), aff'd, 390 U.S. 744 (1968); Ohlson v. Phillips, 304 F. Supp. 1152 (C.D. Colo. 1969) (three-judge court), aff'd., 397 U.S. 317 (1970); Law Students Civil Rights Research Council v. Wadmond, 401 U.S. 154, 161 (1971); Fields v. Askew, 279 So. 2d 822 (Fla. 1973), aff'd per curiam, 414 U.S. 1148 (1974).
179 Compare Bond v. Floyd, 385 U.S. 116 (1966), with Law Students Civil Rights Research Council v. Wadmond, 401 U.S. 154 (1971).
Imposition of Consequences for Holding Certain Beliefs.--Despite the Cantwell dictum that freedom of belief is absolute,180 government has been permitted to inquire into the holding of certain beliefs and to impose consequences on the believers, primarily with regard to its own employees and to licensing certain professions.181 It is not clear what precise limitations the Court has placed on these practices.
180 Cantwell v. Connecticut, 310 U.S. 296, 303 (1940).
181 The issue has also arisen in the context of criminal sentencing. Evidence that racial hatred was a motivation for a crime may be taken into account, Barclay v. Florida, 463 U.S. 939, 949 (1983), but evidence of the defendant's membership in a racist group is inadmissible where race was not a factor and no connection had been established between the defendant's crime and the group's objectives. Dawson v. Delaware, 112 S. Ct. 4197 (1992). See also United States v. Abel, 469 U.S. 45 (1984) (defense witness could be impeached by evidence that both witness and defendant belonged to group whose members were sworn to lie on each other's behalf).
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