Gibson v. Florida Legislative Investigation Committee

Petitioner

Theodore R. Gibson

Respondent

Florida Legislative Investigation Committee

Petitioner's Claim

That requiring the Miami branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to use its membership list during investigative hearings to determine if its membership included alleged Communists violated the members' constitutional right to freedom of association.

Chief Lawyer for Petitioner

Robert L. Carter

Chief Lawyer for Respondent

Mark R. Hawes

Justices for the Court

Hugo Lafayette Black, William J. Brennan, Jr., William O. Douglas, Arthur Goldberg (writing for the Court), Earl Warren

Justices Dissenting

Tom C. Clark, John Marshall Harlan II, Potter Stewart, Byron R. White

Place

Washington, D.C.

Date of Decision

25 March 1963

Decision

Upheld the petitioner's claim and reversed the Supreme Court of Florida's affirmance of the trial court's judgment of contempt.

Related Cases

• National Association for the Advancement of Colored People v. Alabama, 357 U.S. 449 (1958).
• Gibson v. Florida Legislative Investigative Committee, 108 So.2d 729 (Fla. 1959).
• Uphaus v. Wyman, 360 U.S. 72 (1959).
• Bates v. City of Little Rock, 361 U.S. 516 (1960).
• Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1 (1976).

Further Readings

• Biskupic, Joan and Elder Witt, eds. Congressional Quarterly's Guide to the U.S. Supreme Court, 3rd ed. Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly, Inc., 1996.
• Cushman, Robert F. Leading Constitutional Decisions. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1982.
• Haynes, John Earl. Red Scare or Red Menace?: American Communism and Anticommunism in the Cold War Era. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 1996.