Opinion ID: 1721404
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Appellants Rosenblatt and Teplow.

Text: These witnesses were interrogated as to their place of birth; whether they were naturalized citizens of the United States; whether they were members of the Communist Party of Florida; whether they knew various individuals and whether they knew them to be members of the Communist Party; whether they were members of the NAACP in Dade County; whether they were members of such organizations as Southern Conference for Human Welfare, Civil Rights Congress, or the American-Hungarian Culture Club. They objected to answering this line of questioning on the grounds that it was not pertinent to the subject of the legislative inquiry; that it invaded their rights protected by Sections 1, 2, 12, 13 and 15 of the Declaration of Rights of the Florida Constitution, and the First, Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States. With reference to the questions as to whether the witnesses were affiliated with the Communist Party or had engaged in official activities for the Communist Party in Florida, the trial judge apparently held the view that Chapter 876, Florida Statutes, F.S.A., condemning subversive or seditious conduct against the State of Florida, remains a valid enactment despite the opinion of the Supreme Court of the United States in Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Nelson, 350 U.S. 497, 76 S.Ct. 477, 100 L.Ed. 640. Therefore, he ruled that these witnesses could decline to answer these specific questions on the constitutional ground that by doing so they would be compelled to incriminate themselves contrary to Section 12, Declaration of Rights of Florida. The other types of questions the witnesses were required to answer.