ABSTRACT
The McCarran Act, officially known as the Internal Security Act of 1950, was the major attempt by Congress to move from criminalizing the activities of the Communist Party to regulating those activities. In 1954 the McCarran Act was amended to include a new category, "Communist-infiltrated" organizations, organizations that were not allied with the Communist Party but had a number of party members in leadership positions. The McCarran Act was reviewed by the US Supreme Court in Communist Party v. Subversive Activities Control Board (SACB), 351 US 115, but the Court avoided the issue of compulsory registration by focusing on SACB's use of allegedly perjured testimony in its hearings. The McCarran Act was effectively invalidated by the courts during the mid-1960s after fear of communism had faded. Although SACB had issued several orders to register, organizations continued to resist the orders, a strategy that was validated when the Supreme Court voided the board's remaining orders.
