Posted on 06/04/2013 6:41:19 AM PDT by Perdogg
LIVE: Conservative Groups Testify to Lawmakers on IRS Scrutiny 10am EDT (7am PDT)
The United States Supreme Court’s decision in NAACP v. Alabama ex. Rel. Patterson, 357 U.S. 449 (1958) turns 50 this year. For those who value privacy it is a birthday worth remembering.
In NAACP v. Alabama, the Court affirmed that the constitutional rights of speech and assembly include a right of private group association. The idea that Americans are free to join private groups was not new in 1958. However, the Court’s decision to allow private groups to keep membership information confidential was an important constitutional milestone.
In 1956, the state of Alabama demanded a copy of the NAACP’s membership list, as part of its effort to expel the group from the state for allegedly violating a state business law. But the Supreme Court held that the civil rights group had a right to keep its members’ identities secret, whether or not a technical business law had been broken. Revealing the group’s membership, argued the Court, “is likely to affect adversely the ability of [the NAACP] and its members to pursue their collective effort to foster beliefs which they admittedly have the right to advocate, in that it may induce members to withdraw from the Association and dissuade others from joining it because of fear of exposure of their beliefs shown through their associations and of the consequences of this exposure.” NAACP at 462-63.
Whether handwritten on lined paper or stored electronically in a computer system, membership data is constitutionally protected from mandatory disclosure.
Individuals who join forces with others can sleep comfortably knowing they have a constitutional right to privacy that minimizes the risk of reprisal flowing from group membership. Any peaceful religious, social or political organization with a sensitive or unpopular mission can promise meaningful confidentiality and anonymity to members.
No constitutional right is absolute, however. The right to maintain membership data in secrecy is not perfectly guaranteed. But the Court reassuringly characterized official demands for membership lists as substantial restraints on freedom of association. As such, courts must strike them down unless they are narrowly tailored and necessary to further a compelling state interest. NAACP at 463-66.
Anita L. Allen, J.D., Ph.D.
Henry R. Silverman professor of Law and Professor of Philosophy
University of Pennsylvania School of Law
Now he’s bringing Newt Gingrich into this? What a— No, I won’t go there.
McDermott Slap Down Coming...Please!
No, Congressman, the "cancer" may have metastasized to Cincinnati and throughout other offices of the IRS and other government agencies, but its origination is in a so-called "progressive" philosophy which asserts that the U. S. Constitution is a "flawed" document, a document which "constrains" the coercive power of government over its citizens, and that, by "Executive Order" or other indirect and less traceable means, that Constitution's limits must be evaded, denied, and bypassed in order to "fundamentally change" America!
I know! McDermott is nuts! Claimed all thr groups just wanted to get around paying taxes! none of them have any money! He is telling them they are all political and asking taxpayers to PAY for that work!
WTH about Organizing for America!
He’s saying these groups should be nonpolitical...tell that to OFA and Soros groups!! What a pile of cr@p...making this political!! What about the gay *controversial* groups??? McDermott has really opened up a huge can of worms.
This man is disgusting and making me sick.
Equal protection under the law. What an asshat McDermott is. Where is Gowdy when we need him?
McDermott is outrageous.
BTTT!
McDermott is not nuts. McDermott is pure evil. I can’t believe what I am hearing.
I hope they get a chance to smack McDermott in the chops!
And now he goes to Bush. This guy is unbelievable.
Oh great. Now McDermott is blaming Bush.
Great post and assessment of what Rangle was trying to do.
The Chairman should make these partisan hacks ask a question, but he won’t!
Please let Eastman respond to this asshat.
Is Gowdy part of the questioning today?
"The man who only flatters and cringes to gain applause, is a saint, compared with the man who tramples on law and constitution to secure the popularity his arts have obtained, and to retain the confidence of a party. There is something extremely contemptible in the factitious character of a popularity-seeker, or mere man of the people.--------- "The natural consequence of too much popularity is, that it enables the possessor to violate the laws and constitution of his country, and sacrifice its interests with impunity . . . During the war in Europe, in the beginning of the last century, the Duke of Marlborough, by an unusual tide of victory, was borne so high in popularity, that he had influence enough to prolong that war, for the purpose of enriching himself; and a commission was actually prepared, which would have made him general for life, but it was rendered ineffectual by, a single member of the ministry, who had firmness enough to refuse his seal. *
To be a tyrant with any tolerable degree of safety, a man must be fully possessed of the confidence of the people. Charles the first of England extended the royal prerogative to an unwarrantable length, and lost his head . . . but that prince could not have sent a detachment of three hundred men to drive the commons of England from their hall, and have effected his purpose. That act of despotism was reserved for the republican Cromwell, the friend of the people. James the second was an arbitrary man, a catholic, and odious to the English nation . . . he was, therefore, compelled to abdicate his throne. But his successor, William, a friend of the whigs, ascended the throne upon a tide of popularity; and he could deliberately sign an illegal and barbarous warrant for the murder of the whole village of Glencoe, in Scotland, and never be called in question for the murderous deed!** "Oh, 'tis excellent," says the poet,
"To have a giant's strength; but it is tyrannous
To use it like a giant."
MEASURE FOR MEASURE.
"The open advocate of a strong government is subject to popular odium, his encroachments are eyed with jealousy, or resisted by force. But the hypocritical pretender to patriotism acquires, in the confidence of the people, a giant's force, and he may use it like a giant. The people, like artless females, are liable to be seduced, not by the men they hate or suspect, but by those they love."Our natures do pursue,
Like rats that raven down their proper bane
A thirsty evil, and when we drink, we die."
MEASURE FOR MEASURE.
* Johnson's Life of Swift.
** Smollet. continuation of Hume. Anno. 1691.
"Nor is it among the least evils proceeding from the ambition of popular favor, that the friends of the people are willing to secure it, by relaxing the energy of the laws. They know that legal restraints are odious, and will hazard the public peace, rather than not gratify the licentious propensities of their partizans. But,
. . . . "But why this gloomy picture of errors committed, and evils felt or expected? Ought we to renounce our predilection for a republican government, and abandon, in despair, the experiment which our fathers have begun? By no means. Not only our duty enjoins, but necessity impels us to prosecute plans of national grandeur and happiness, which were contemplated by the revolution. To advance, indeed, requires courage and firmness; but to retreat is impossible, and would be infamy.
"To ourselves, however, and to posterity, it will be useful to inquire, with candor and impartiality, into the causes of our disappointments. The real truth is, our revolutionary schemes were too visionary . . . and our hopes too sanguine. A republican government, in which the supreme power is created by choice, is unquestionably the most excellent form of government in theory; and with all its imperfections, is, in fact, the most eligible form, for nations in the early stages of society. In old, corrupt, and very populous nations, it is probable that the state of society must always prevent the mass of citizens, from acquiring that portion of property, knowledge and independence of mind, which are absolutely essential to render an elective government a public blessing. Government takes its form very much from the character of the people to be governed; and a republican or free government, necessarily springs from the state of society, manners and property in the United States. No other form is proper for the country . . . no other will suit the present state of society . . . no other can be imposed upon Our citizens."
Go Ryan!
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