The Supreme Court: On Oath

"Is it subversive to attend international conventions and exchange views with scholars from Communist countries?" It could be. "Could one support participation by this country in world government?" Maybe not. Such interpretations would not be farfetched, warned Justice Byron White, if the Supreme Court let stand two state of Washington loyalty oaths which required a state employee to swear that he was not a "subversive person" and would "promote undivided allegiance to the Government." A majority of the justices agreed with White, and the Supreme Court last week declared the vague Washington oaths unconstitutional. Noting that the court had upheld a similar Maryland statute, dissenting Justice Tom Clark found his colleagues' change of heart "unfortunate." Justice White's worries, he complained, "extract more sunbeams from cucumbers than did Gulliver's mad scientists."