freedom of association
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 357 U.S. 449 - National Association for Advancement of Colored People v. State of Alabama Patterson · 1958Most cited · 5,236 citing opinions
freedom to engage in association for the advancement of beliefs and ideas is an inseparable aspect of the 'liberty' assured by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, which embraces freedom of speech. It is immaterial whether the beliefs sought to be advanced by association pertain to political, economic, religious or cultural matters, and state action which may have the effect of curtailing the freedom to associate is subject to the closest scrutiny.
How often courts cite the cases defining “freedom of association”
Court decisions citing the 2 opinions that defined “freedom of association” — 5,502 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining cases as a whole, not verified uses of the term. The dip in the most recent years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the latest years.
All 2 definitions, chronological · 1958–1961
freedom of association is included in the bundle of First Amendment rights made applicable to the States by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment