NAACP V. ALABAMA
357 U.S. 449 (1958)
NATURE OF THE CASE: This is an appeal from a conviction for contempt for the failure to obey a state court order to produce records. The question presented is whether Alabama, consistently with the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, can compel petitioner to reveal to the State's Attorney General the names and addresses of all its Alabama members and agents, without regard to their positions or functions in the Association.
FACTS: In 1956, the Attorney General of Alabama (P) brought an equity suit in the State Circuit Court to enjoin D from conducting further activities within, and to oust it from, the State. The local court issued an ex parte order restraining D, pendente lite, from engaging in further activities within the State and forbidding it to take any steps to qualify itself to do business therein. P moved for the production of a large number of the Association's records and papers, including bank statements, leases, deeds, and records containing the names and addresses of all Alabama 'members' and 'agents' of the Association. The court ordered the production of a substantial part of the requested records, including the membership lists, and postponed the hearing on the restraining order to a date later than the time ordered for production. D did not comply with the production order, and was adjudged in civil contempt and fined $10,000. The contempt judgment provided that the fine would be subject to reduction or remission if compliance were forthcoming within five days but otherwise would be increased to $100,000. D produced substantially all the data called for by the production order except its membership lists, as to which it contended that Alabama could not constitutionally compel disclosure. A motion to vacate that part of the order was denied. The Circuit Court made a further order adjudging D in continuing contempt and increasing the fine already imposed to $100,000. The State Supreme Court twice dismissed petitions for certiorari.
ISSUE:
RULE OF LAW:
HOLDING AND
DECISION:
LEGAL ANALYSIS:
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