Page:Carr v. Young.pdf/2

642 Two suits were consolidated in the trial court. In one the appellant Carr, an associate professor of music at the University of Arkansas, acting for himself and others similarly situated, sought a decree declaring the act unconstitutional and enjoining its enforcement by the defendants, the president and trustees of the University. The other case is a similar class suit brought by the appellant Gephardt, a vocational printing instructor at Little Rock Central High School, asking for like relief against the Little Rock Special School District and its superintendent and directors. Both plaintiffs assert that Act 10 infringes upon their freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of association, freedom of thought, and allied rights, all protected by the Fourteenth Amendment and by parallel provisions in the Arkansas constitution.

Act 10 provides that no person shall be employed as a teacher in any of the state's public schools or as a superintendent or principal in any elementary or secondary school without having first filed with the employing authority an affidavit giving the names and addresses of all organizations and associations to which the applicant has belonged within the preceding five years or to which he has paid regular dues or made regular contributions within that time. Other provisions of the act nullify any contract made in violation of the statute, permit the recovery of funds paid under such a void contract, and fix civil and criminal penalties for the willful filing of a false affidavit.

The appellants' attack upon the act may be considered in two aspects: First, is Act 10 unconstitutional on its face? Secondly, if the act is outwardly valid, does the record show that the statute was intended to be applied, and will in fact be applied, in such a way as to deprive the appellants and those they represent of their constitutional rights?

We do not find Act 10 to be invalid on its face. By § 1 of the act the legislature declared its belief that the public school system would be benefited as a result of the school authorities having the required