Court Opinion

ID: 9423513
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:08:05.801595+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:22:44.658630
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Harlan,
whom Mr. Justice Stewart and Mr. Justice White join,
dissenting.
Maryland will doubtless be surprised to learn that its meticulous efforts to conform the state “loyalty oath” to the requirements of Gerende v. Election Board, 341 U. S. 56, have been to no avail. It will also be entitled to feel baffled by an opinion which, while recognizing the continuing authority of Gerende, undertakes to bypass that decision by a process of reasoning that defies analysis.
Appellant Whitehill was denied employment in the state university as a temporary lecturer by reason of his refusal to sign an oath that more than meets the requirements of Gerende. He was asked only whether he is now, in one way or another engaged in an attempt to overthrow the Government by force or violence.1 References to international conferences, controversial discussions, support of minority candidates, academic freedom and the like cannot disguise the fact that Whitehill was asked simply to disclaim actual, present activity, *63amounting in effect to treasonable conduct. Allusions to the constitutional amending process cannot obscure the fact that this oath makes no reference to “alteration” of our form of government or to “believing in” or “being a member of” anything whatsoever. The oath itself, then, in no way violates, jeopardizes, or beclouds appellant’s freedom of speech or of association. So much, indeed, the Court’s opinion appears to concede.
The Court concludes, however, that the oath must be read “in connection with” certain sections of the Ober Law because, as a state matter, the authority of the Board of Regents to require an oath derives from that law. The Court does not pause to tell us what the “connection” is or to explain how it serves to invalidate the unambiguous oath required of this appellant. On the one hand, it is plain, as the Court artistically avoids conceding, that the only effect of the law on this appellant is to deny him state employment if he refuses to sign an oath which, in itself, he can have no constitutional objection to signing. On the other hand, nowhere does the Court suggest that the character of the oath itself is altered by any language in the statute authorizing the Regents to impose it. The oath does not refer to the statute2 or otherwise incorporate it by reference. It contains no terms that are further defined in the statute. In short, the oath must be judged on its own bottom.
The only thing that does shine through the opinion of the majority is that its members do not like loyalty oaths. Believing that it is not within the province of this Court to pass upon the wisdom or unwisdom of Maryland’s policy in this regard, and finding nothing unconstitutional about the oath tendered to this appellant, I would affirm the judgment of the court below.

 The oath did not even include the limited sort of “membership” clause also approved in Gerende. See the Court’s opinion, ante, at 55-56, 57-58.

 The document submitted to appellant for his signature did contain the notation customary to government documents of the authority under which it was promulgated.