ABSTRACT
The pervasive popular and judicial anxieties about communism at home and abroad were reflected in the influential case of American Communications Association v. Douds (1950). 1 Although it ignored the First Amendment, Douds did involve the Communist Party, test oaths, and the balancing of rights of communists to carry on lawful political activity versus what Chief Justice Vinson stated, “political strikes [that Congress found] are evils of conduct which cause substantial harm to interstate commerce.” In Douds, the High Court passed favorably upon the “non-communist affidavit” of Section 9(h) of the Labor Management Relations [Taft-Hartley] Act of 1947. As observed earlier, the statute required every union official to file an affidavit declaring that he was not a member of the CP or any organization that favored the forcible overthrow of the government. If the official refused the oath, the union in question was denied the protection and services of the National Labor Relations Board.
