June 5, 1939: The Supreme Court rules that the First Amendment protects a worker’s right to organize

Thursday 5 June 2008

The Supreme Court ruled June 5, 1939, in the case of Hague v. Committee for Industrial Organization, that freedom of association and expression cannot be denied to members of a labor union seeking to advance their economic interests in public places. The case involved an ordinance issued in 1937 by New Jersey Mayor Frank Hague that prevented labor meetings to be held in public locations and that attempted to halt the distribution of literature pertaining to the Committee for Industrial Organization. The ruling against Hague provided that the First Amendment protections of free speech, petition and assembly are applicable to the states through the due-process clause of the 14th Amendment.