Participant Info
- Case
- Konigsberg v. State Bar of California
- Citation
- 353 US 252
- Type
- Majority
- Year
- 1957
- Description
In Konigsberg v. State Bar of California, Black writes the Court’s majority opinion holding that an attorney could not be barred from the practice of admission because he refused to answer the question of “whether he was or ever had been a member of the Communist Party.” Black held that a failure to divulge such information about political associations and beliefs could not be used in keeping with the Constitution as grounds for deciding a candidate for the bar was unfit to practice law. Black writes: “A bar composed of lawyers of good character is a worthy objective but it is unnecessary to sacrifice vital freedoms in order to obtain that goal. It is also important both to society and the bar itself that lawyers be unintimidated —free to think, speak, and act as members of an Independent Bar.”
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