# Garner v. Board of Public Works of Los Angeles

> Supreme Court of the United States · June 4, 1951 · 341 U.S. 716

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9420626

## Case

- **Full name:** GARNER Et Al. v. BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS OF LOS ANGELES Et Al.
- **Court:** Supreme Court of the United States
- **Decided:** June 4, 1951
- **Citations:** 341 U.S. 716; 71 S. Ct. 909; 95 L. Ed. 2d 1317; 95 L. Ed. 1317; 1951 U.S. LEXIS 1731
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Dissent by Black
- **Judges:** Clark, Frankfurter, Burton, Douglas, Black
- **Cited by:** 188 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9420626

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- holding that oath did not deny due process after assuming that scienter was implicit in each clause of oath

## Opinion text

Mr. Justice Black,
dissenting.
I agree with the dissenting opinion of Mr. Justice Douglas but wish to emphasize two objections to the opinion of the Court:
1. Our per curiam opinion in Gerende v. Board of Supervisors, 341 U. S. 56 , in no way stands for the principle for which the Court cites it today. In Gerende , we upheld a Maryland law that had been interpreted by the highest court of that state to require only an oath' that a candidate “is not a person who is engaged ‘in one way or another in the attempt to overthrow the government by force or violence,’ and that he is not knowingly a member of an organization engaged in such an attempt.” The oath and affidavit in the present case are obviously not so limited.
2. The opinion of the Court creates considerable doubt as to the continued vitality of three of our past decisions: Cummings v. Missouri, 4 Wall. 277 ; Ex parte Garland, 4 Wall. 333 ; United States v. Lovett, 328 U. S. 303 . To *731 this extent it weakens one more of the Constitution’s great guarantees of individual liberty. See, e. g., Dennis v. United States, ante, p. 494, and Breard v. Alexandria, ante, p. 622, decided this day.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9420626. Public record. Not legal advice.