loyalty oath

…required teachers to take “loyalty” oaths in order to prevent them from engaging in left-wing (and particularly communist) political activities. During the anticommunist hysteria of the 1950s, the use of loyalty oaths was widespread, and many teachers who refused to take them were dismissed without due process.

…laws requiring educators to sign loyalty oaths and to refrain from “treasonable or seditious speech or acts” were unconstitutional. The case arose at a time when it was common for public employers to require their employees, including educators, to subscribe to loyalty oaths in the United States. These oaths, which…

…private schools to sign a loyalty oath. Unlike other cases in which the Supreme Court had invalidated loyalty oaths because they were not sufficiently clear in forbidding individuals from engaging in particular activities—e.g., Keyishian v. Board of Regents (1967)—the court upheld the oath in Knight, finding that it was not…