Wieman v. Updegraff
United States Supreme Court
344 U.S. 183, 73 S. Ct. 215, 97 L. Ed. 216 (1952)
- Written by Jennifer Flinn, JD
Facts
An Oklahoma statute required all state officers and employees, including those employed for state colleges and universities, to take an oath declaring that they were not, and had not been during the previous five years, members of any organization listed by the United States attorney general as being subversive or Communist. Faculty and staff at Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College (OAMC) failed to take the oath as required. Paul Updegraff (plaintiff), a taxpayer, filed a lawsuit seeking to enjoin state officials (defendants) from paying any employees who failed to take the oath. Faculty and staff at OAMC intervened in the lawsuit, arguing that the statute violated the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and seeking an injunction directing state officials to pay their salaries. The Oklahoma Supreme Court upheld the validity of the statute, and faculty and staff at OAMC appealed to the United States Supreme Court.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Clark, J.)
Concurrence (Frankfurter, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 811,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
