Court Opinion

ID: 9721034
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 08:46:54.274062+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:23.003610
License: Public Domain

FRANSON, J
I concur in the denial of the writ of prohibition but I do so on the ground that on the record before us petitioners have failed to show that their First Amendment rights to freedom of speech, assembly or association have been jeopardized in any way. Thus, it is unnecessaiy to place the First Amendment and the California Civil Discoveiy Act in juxtaposition for the purpose of weighing their relative merits on the constitutional scale.
I would simply hold that by filing the instant action petitioners have consented to the discovery of the names and addresses of persons who, with petitioners, attended any meetings or organizations concerned with the alleviation or reduction of noise generated by the operations of the *318Fresno Air Terminal. I find nothing in N.A.A.C.P. v. Alabama (1958) 357 U.S. 449 [2 L.Ed.2d 1488, 78 S.Ct. 1163] which compels a contrary rationale. That case recognizes only that compelled disclosure of membership in organizations engaged in advocating a particular religious or dissident belief is constitutionally impermissible as infringing on the right of association absent some overriding state interest. I see no such issue in the case before us.
A petition for a rehearing was denied December 2, 1976, and the opinion was modified to read as printed above. Petitioners’ application for a hearing by the Supreme Court was denied January 5, 1977. Tobriner, J., and Mosk, J., were of the opinion that the application should be granted.