Source: http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Albertson_v._Subversive_Activities_Control_Board/Opinion_of_the_Court
Timestamp: 2015-01-26 10:42:59
Document Index: 661169124

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 7', '§ 786', '§ 13', '§ 13', '§ 8', '§ 14', '§ 11']

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Albertson v. Subversive Activities Control Board/Opinion of the Court
< Albertson v. Subversive Activities Control Board
Albertson v. Subversive Activities Control Board by William J. Brennan, Jr.
927866Albertson v. Subversive Activities Control Board — Opinion of the CourtWilliam J. Brennan, Jr.
No. 3. Argued: October 18, 1965. --- Decided: November 15, 1965.
The Communist Party of the United States of America failed to register with the Attorney General as required by the order of the Subversive Activities Control Board sustained in Communist Party of the United States v. SACB, 367 U.S. 1, 81 S.Ct. 1357, 6 L.Ed.2d 625. [1] Accordingly, no list of Party members was filed as required by § 7(d)(4) of the Subversive Activities Control Act of 1950, 64 Stat. 993-994, 50 U.S.C. § 786(d)(4) (1964 ed.). [2] Sections 8(a) and (c) of the Act provide that, in that circumstance, each member of the organization must register and file a registration statement; in default thereof, § 13(a) authorizes the Attorney General to petition the Board for an order requiring the member to register. [3] The Attorney General invoked § 13(a) against petitioners, and the Board, after evidentiary hearings, determined that petitioners were Party members and ordered each of them to register pursuant to §§ 8(a) and (c). Review of the orders was sought by petitioners in the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit under § 14(a). [4] The Court of Appeals affirmed the orders, 118 U.S.App.D.C. 117, 332 F.2d 317. We granted certiorari, 381 U.S. 910, 85 S.Ct. 1529, 14 L.Ed.2d 432. We reverse. [5]
Petitioners address several constitutional challenges to the validity of the orders, but we consider only the contention that the orders violate their Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. [6]
The Court of Appeals affirmed the orders without deciding the privilege issue, expressing the view that under our decision in Communist Party, 367 U.S., at 105-110, 81 S.Ct., at 1415-1417, the issue was not ripe for adjudication and would be ripe only in a prosecution for failure to register if the petitioners did not register. 118 U.S.App.D.C. at 121-123, 332 F.2d, at 321-323. We disagree. In Communist Party the Party asserted the privilege on behalf of unnamed officers-those obliged to register the Party and those obliged 'to register for' the Party if it failed to do so. [7] The self-incrimination claim asserted on behalf of the latter officers was held premature because the Party might choose to register and thus the duty of those officers might never arise. Here, in contrast, the contingencies upon which the members' duty to register arises have already matured; the Party did not register within 30 days after the order to register became final and the requisite 60 days since the order became final have elapsed. As to the officers obliged to register the Party, Communist Party held that the self-incrimination claim asserted on their behalf was not ripe for adjudication because it was not known whether they would ever claim the privilege or whether the claim, if asserted, would be honored by the Attorney General. But with respect to the orders in this case, addressed to named individuals, both these contingencies are foreclosed. Petitioners asserted the privilege in their answers to the Attorney General's petitions; they did not testify at the Board hearings; they again asserted the privilege in the review proceedings in the Court of Appeals. In each instance the Attorney General rejected their claims. Thus, the considerations which led the Court in Communist Party to hold that the claims on behalf of unnamed officers were premature are not present in this case.
There are other reasons for holding that petitioners' self-incrimination claims are ripe for decision. Specific orders requiring petitioners to register have been issued. The Attorney General has promulgated regulations requiring that registration shall be accomplished on Form IS-52a and that the accompanying registration statement shall be a completed Form IS-52, [8] 28 CFR §§ 11.206, 11.207, and petition