Communist Party of Indiana v. Whitcomb

In Communist Party of Indiana v. Whitcomb (1974) 414 U.S. 441, the United States Supreme Court considered an Indiana statute that precluded from the ballot any political party whose officers had not filed an affidavit stating under oath that the party did not advocate the overthrow of the government by force or violence. ( Id. at pp. 442-443.) The court squarely held that the loyalty oath requirement of the statute violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution (414 U.S. at p. 446.) reasoning that free speech and free press guarantees " 'do not permit a State to forbid or proscribe advocacy . . . except where such advocacy is directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or produce such action' " ( Id. at p. 448.)