## Facts

- Archie Brown, a longshoreman, was an open member of the Communist Party and was repeatedly elected to the executive board of a local longshoremen’s union.
- Section 504 of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 made it a federal crime for a person who belongs to the Communist Party (or had belonged within the prior five years) to serve on a union executive board.
- A federal grand jury indicted Brown for knowingly and willfully serving as a union executive board member while a Communist Party member.
- The prosecution did not allege, and the evidence did not show, that Brown had advocated illegal conduct or proposed a political strike.
- Brown was convicted by a jury and sentenced to six months’ imprisonment.
- The Ninth Circuit (en banc) reversed and directed dismissal; the Supreme Court granted review and also considered whether § 504 was a bill of attainder.

## Issues

1. Whether LMRDA § 504, which disqualifies Communist Party members (and recent former members) from union executive office, is an unconstitutional bill of attainder under Article I, § 9, cl. 3.
2. Whether § 504 violates the First Amendment and the Fifth Amendment.

## Decision

- The Court held, 5–4, that § 504 is an unconstitutional bill of attainder and is void.
- Because the statute failed under the Bill of Attainder Clause, the Court did not decide the First or Fifth Amendment issues.
- The Court affirmed the judgment directing that Brown’s conviction be set aside and the indictment dismissed.

## Legal Principles

- The Bill of Attainder Clause bars legislative punishment of specifically designated persons or groups and serves to prevent Congress from exercising judicial power.
- A law can be a bill of attainder even if framed as “preventive” rather than “retributive”; prospective disqualifications may constitute forbidden punishment.
- A statute that imposes disabilities based on political affiliation (rather than general, conduct-based criteria) may amount to unconstitutional legislative punishment.
- Congress may enact generally applicable regulations to protect commerce, but it may not accomplish that objective by singling out an identified political group for special disqualification.
- Group membership cannot be used as a “shorthand” substitute for individualized or conduct-based standards when the result is legislative imposition of a punitive disability on a targeted class.

## Conclusion

The Court invalidated a federal law that criminalized union leadership service by Communist Party members, concluding that Congress impermissibly imposed a punitive disability on a specifically identified political group without judicial process, in violation of the Bill of Attainder Clause.


United States v. Brown, 381 U.S. 437 (1965)