Opinion ID: 1721404
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 15

Heading: NAACP Membership List.

Text: We now approach the contention of the appellant Graham and others with regard to the requirement of the subpoena duces tecum directing them to produce the books, records and membership lists of NAACP. The complaining appellants have produced no records whatsoever. In fact, they admitted at the hearing that they did not bring any of the required records nor did they account for the whereabouts of the records. They have refused to do either. They have objected particularly to the production of the membership lists showing the names of members of the Miami Branch of NAACP. We have the view that the other records are of no material consequence here. They contend here that the order of the trial judge requiring them to respond to the subpoena by the production of such membership lists is directly contrary to the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in National Ass'n for Advancement of Colored People v. State of Alabama, ex rel. Patterson, 357 U.S. 449, 78 S.Ct. 1163, 2 L.Ed.2d 1488, hereafter cited as NAACP v. Alabama. The decision last cited was rendered subsequent to our decision In re Petition of Graham, etc., Fla. 1958, 104 So.2d 16. Appellants contend that the effect of our former decision in the Graham matter has been superseded by the decision of the United States Supreme Court in NAACP v. Alabama, supra. In support of their position that they should not be required to produce the membership lists of the Miami Branch of NAACP, these appellants contend that the freedom to engage in a legitimate association for the advancement of beliefs and ideas is an aspect of liberty guaranteed to them by the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. It is their position that freedom to associate with those of kindred minds for the advancement of legitimate beliefs and ideas is related to the constitutional guarantee of freedom of speech. It should not be curtailed, so they assert, absent some showing of a compelling state interest that justifies the subordination of the individual liberty to the essential requirements of the welfare of the state. They further assert that in view of the nature of NAACP as an organization devoted to the advancement of the educational, social and economic well-being of the Negro, they occupy, so they contend, a relatively unpopular position in some sections of the country, including Florida. In view of the alleged lack of popularity of the organization itself, as well as its objectives, these appellants then follow with the assertion that the compulsory production of their membership lists revealing the names of their rank and file members, many of whom earn their living in various menial pursuits, would be to deter such members from participating in the affairs of the organization, from exercising the right to associate and express themselves on the objectives of the organization, and in a measure would result in economic repercussions such as discharge from employment merely because of affiliation with NAACP. We interpolate that unlike the situation presented in NAACP v. Alabama, supra, the appellants here have not demonstrated by any evidence whatsoever that the production of their membership lists or the identification of members would have such a deterrent effect in the State of Florida. With reference to the attitude of the people of Florida regarding NAACP suffice it to observe that we judicially know from our own records and otherwise that NAACP has actively engaged in the pursuit of its objectives openly, aggressively and without let or hindrance in the State of Florida. The record here presented reveals nothing to the contrary. In NAACP v. Alabama, supra, the United States Supreme Court was presented with a situation in which the State of Alabama, acting through its Attorney General, was undertaking to oust NAACP from engaging in any intrastate activities because of its failure to comply with the Alabama foreign corporation registration statute, Code 1940, Tit. 10, §§ 192-198. The statute required such a corporation to file its corporate charter and designate a place of business and an agent to receive service of process in the State of Alabama. In the Alabama case NAACP complied with all requirements such as the furnishing of its business records, a copy of its charter, the statement of its purposes, the name of all of its officers and directors, the total number of members within the state and the amount of its dues. They declined to furnish the membership lists which in actuality does not appear to have been a requirement of the Alabama statute. Apparently the list of members was requested merely to attempt to ascertain whether NAACP was engaging in an intrastate business in Alabama. As pointed out above, evidence was presented that satisfied the Supreme Court of the United States that the furnishing of the membership lists would have a deterrent effect upon the exercise of the constitutionally protected right to association asserted by the corporation in behalf of its rank and file members. We pretermit any discussion of the fact that in these appeals NAACP as a corporate entity is not a party. In addition to recognizing the existence of this individual right as well as a guarantee of its protection by the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, the Supreme Court of the United States in the Alabama case held in sum that in the particular proceeding there involved the interest of the state in obtaining the list of members was not of sufficient compulsion to override the deterrent effect asserted by NAACP. Constitutionally speaking the ultimate conclusion simply was that in order to justify the restriction on the exercise of the individual right to associate, due process under the Fourteenth Amendment requires that the state exhibit a compelling reason motivated by the general welfare. We do not undertake to question the authoritative effect of the Alabama decision. Admitting for the matter at hand the controlling aspects of the Federal Constitution as interpreted by the Supreme Court of the United States in that case, we have the view that the instant case does not fall within the prohibitive adjudications of that pronouncement. Here, there is no showing whatsoever of the contended deterrent effect. No effort was made to demonstrate it in any evidentiary form. We are here confronted by the bald assertion of the described constitutional privilege of association with no demonstration of infringement as a result of the attempted state action. Furthermore, in the instant case the purpose of the inquiry as authorized by the enabling statute and as delineated by the Committee Chairman certainly, in the absence of any showing to the contrary, tenders a compelling reason in the public interest to conduct the investigation and to require the availability of the requested records as hereafter announced. We have previously concluded in this opinion that the State of Florida is acting within the orbit of the powers saved to it by the Tenth Amendment when it undertakes to explore the membership of various organizations, legitimate perhaps within themselves but suspected of being the victims of surreptitious infiltration and penetration by subversives and others engaged in illegitimate activities. Assuming, therefore, the legitimacy of the state objective and the controlling justification grounded in the public interest, we have the view that the action of the appellee Committee in the instant case in demanding that certain officers or custodians of NAACP have available at the hearing the membership records of the organization, accords with the requirements of due process within the specifications announced by the Supreme Court of the United States in National Association for Advancement of Colored People v. State of Alabama, supra. As we pointed out In re Petition of Graham, supra, we cannot determine from this record the actual pertinency or necessity of revealing the entire membership lists of NAACP to the extent that the entire lists should be delivered to the Committee and placed in evidence thereby becoming a matter of public record. To support the position of the appellee Committee in contending for the production of the records, its counsel points out in his brief that other testimony before the Committee reveals the names of more than one hundred individuals who are, or are suspected of being, active Communists. It is asserted that the same persons are suspected of being members or participants in the affairs of the Miami Branch of NAACP. It is then contended that it is necessary to inspect the entire membership lists in order to determine whether such allegedly subversive individuals are in fact members of NAACP. Admittedly, the appellee Committee is investigating only subversive infiltration of the organization. Consequently, the entire contention of appellee on the subject of pertinency on this particular point is limited to the sole proposition of ascertaining whether certain known or suspected Communists or subversives are in any way affiliated with the activities of NAACP. In view of this position of the appellee, the limitations of the requirement of pertinency would restrict their exploration of the membership of the organization to obtaining from the officers or custodians of the membership lists a statement under oath as to whether such suspect persons are in any way associated with NAACP based upon such custodian's reference to the available membership lists or other means of answering the inquiry, such as, having seen such suspected person at meetings of NAACP. Such procedure, we think, accords due regard to the pertinency requirements of Watkins v. United States, supra, as well as the due process requirements of National Ass'n for Advancement of Colored People v. State of Alabama, supra. There may, of course, be other pertinent reasons for obtaining the names of officers, directors and particular members of Miami Branch, NAACP, but pertinency would have to be demonstrated when the inquiry is made. Similarly, and for identical reasons, we think the trial judge ruled correctly in requiring the various appellants to answer the questions as to whether they themselves were members of NAACP at the time of the inquiry. Conceding the legality of the association and admitting, as the Committee's counsel publicly announced, that no stigma attached merely from membership and further granting to appellants their own contention that their objectives were of the highest, it would be difficult for us to agree that there is constitutional justification for their refusal to answer whether or not they are members. Certainly, this must be the rule in view of the state of this record which fails to disclose any factual basis for a conclusion that the giving of an answer to such questions would result in an illegal invasion of their constitutional right of association. In accord with the same point of view, but recalling that we have previously affirmed the ruling of the trial judge that certain appellants could employ the cloak of Section 12 of the Declaration of Rights of Florida against answering specific inquiries in regard to their own Communistic activities, we can see no reason why a particular witness who has been properly identified as an officer or member of NAACP should be excused from answering an inquiry as to whether a person who has been otherwise identified with the Communist Party or Communistic activities is a member of NAACP or has participated in its meetings. In this regard we have the view that merely because one knows a Communist, or happens to have been in the company of a Communist, does not convert him into a Communist. Most of the appellants have filed statements affirmatively disclaiming even the remotest personal association with the Communist movement. There is nothing before us which suggests an effort to adjudicate their guilt by association contrary to their own protestations of absolute innocence. Holding as we have that the legislative objectives of the Committee are legitimate, we think the appellee is within its authority to ascertain whether particular organizations operating in the fields mentioned in the Chairman's opening statement have been afflicted by Communist or subversive infiltration. Illustrative of the type of questioning we here have in mind is the inquiry propounded to the appellant Perry when she was asked by Committee counsel, Do you know a man named Arlington Sands, the question being accompanied by a statement of counsel that on the preceding day another witness before the Committee had identified Sands as one seen by him in Communist Party meetings in Miami and known by him to be a member of the Miami Branch of NAACP. We deem such a question appropriate even though Sands himself, under oath, denied membership in the Communist Party.