Gibson v. Florida Legislative Investigation Comm

372 U.S. 539 (1963)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

A committee of the Florida Legislature commenced an investigation of the N. A. A. C. P. They held hearings and sought by subpoena to obtain the entire membership list of the Miami branch of the N. A. A. C. P.; production was refused, and the committee obtained a court order requiring that the list be submitted. On appeal, the Florida Supreme Court held that the committee could not require production and disclosure of the entire membership list of the organization, but that it could compel the custodian of the records to bring them to the hearings and to refer to them to determine whether specific individuals, otherwise identified as, or 'suspected of being,' Communists, were N. A. A. C. P. members. D, then president of the Miami branch of the N. A. A. C. P. was ordered to appear and to bring with him records of the association. D told the Committee that he had not brought these records with him to the hearing and announced that he would not produce them for the purpose of answering questions concerning membership in the N. A. A. C. P. He did, however, volunteer to answer such questions on the basis of his own personal knowledge; when given the names and shown photographs of 14 persons previously identified as Communists or members of Communist front or affiliated organizations, the petitioner said that he could associate none of them with the N. A. A. C. P. D was brought before a state court and, after a hearing, was adjudged in contempt, and sentenced to six months' imprisonment and fined $1,200, or, in default in payment thereof, sentenced to an additional six months' imprisonment. The Florida Supreme Court sustained the judgment.