Aptheker v. Secretary of State 378 U.S. 500 (1959)

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APTHEKER v. SECRETARY OF STATE 378 U.S. 500 (1959)

Two top leaders of the Communist party appealed the revocation of their passports under section 6 of the Subversive Activities Control Act of 1950.

Justice arthur j. goldberg, in a plurality opinion for a 6–3 Supreme Court, held that that section "too broadly and indiscriminately restrict[ed] the right to travel " and therefore abridged the liberty protected by the Fifth Amendment. The section was overly broad on its face because it did not discriminate between active and inactive members of subversive groups or among the various possible purposes for foreign travel.

Justices hugo l. black and william o. douglas, concurring, would have held the entire act unconstitutional.

Dennis J. Mahoney
(1986)