Supreme Court rules the government cannot compel NAACP membership disclosure

The Supreme Court unanimously ruled in NAACP v. Alabama (357 U.S. 449) that Alabama could not compel the NAACP to hand over its membership lists as a condition of registering to do business in the state. Justice John Marshall Harlan II held that freedom of association is protected by the First Amendment and incorporated against the states through the Fourteenth Amendment's due process clause. The state had subpoenaed names and addresses of all Alabama NAACP members, seeking to expose civil rights workers to retaliation. The Court reversed the Alabama Supreme Court and established that government must show a compelling interest before forcing disclosure of political membership.