Keyishian v. Board of Regents

Keyishian v. Board of Regents
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued November 17, 1966 Decided January 23, 1967
Full case name	Keyishian, et al. v. Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York, et al.
Citations	385 U.S. 589 (more) 87 S. Ct. 675; 17 L. Ed. 2d 629; 1967 U.S. LEXIS 2454
Holding
States cannot prohibit employees from being members of the Communist Party. Such laws are overbroad and too vague.
Court membership
Chief Justice Earl Warren Associate Justices Hugo Black · William O. Douglas Tom C. Clark · John M. Harlan II William J. Brennan Jr. · Potter Stewart Byron White · Abe Fortas
Case opinions
Majority	Brennan, joined by Warren, Black, Douglas, Fortas
Dissent	Clark, joined by Harlan, Stewart, White
Laws applied
U.S. Const. amend. I

Keyishian v. Board of Regents, 385 U.S. 589 (1967), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that states cannot prohibit employees from being members of the Communist Party and that this law was overbroad and too vague.

Background

New York State had laws that prohibited state employees from belonging to any organization that advocated the overthrow of the US government or was "treasonous" or "seditious." The regents of the State University of New York also required teachers and employees to sign an oath that they were not members of the Communist Party.

Some faculty and staff of the university were terminated for refusing to sign the oath and appealed to the Supreme Court.

Decision

The Supreme Court, in a 5–4 decision, overturned the New York state laws prohibiting membership in seditious groups because it was too vague and was overbroad. That largely reversed the 1952 decision in Adler v. Board of Education, in which Irving Adler had been dismissed for the New York City public school system because of a previous connection with the Communist Party USA.

See also

• List of United States Supreme Court cases involving the First Amendment
• List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 385

External links

• Works related to Keyishian v. Board of Regents at Wikisource
• Text of Keyishian v. Board of Regents, 385 U.S. 589 (1967) is available from: Justia Library of Congress Oyez (oral argument audio)
• Heins, Marjorie. (2012, January 23). "The Keyishian Ruling: 45 Years Later," Academe Blog
• Wilson, John K. (2012, January 23). "Interview with Harry Keyishian," Academe Blog