Lovett, United States v. 328 U.S. 303 (1946)

• Author: Michael E. Parrish
• Pages: 1645

Page 1645

In an opinion by Justice HUGO L. BLACK the Court declared unconstitutional a rider to an appropriation act of 1943 which provided that no salary or other compensation could be paid after November 1943 to three specified employees of the executive branch who had been branded as "subversives" by the HOUSE COMMITTEE ON UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES. Congress, Black wrote, had passed a BILL OF ATTAINDER, prohibited by Article I, section 9.

Justices FELIX FRANKFURTER and STANLEY F. REED rejected Black's bill of attainder analysis; but both agreed that the employees were entitled to recover money for the value of services rendered to the government, even after Congress had refused to disburse money to pay their...