United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Hill v. Florida, 325 U.S. 538 (1945)

Hill v. Florida

No. 11

Argued April 4, 5, 1945

Decided June 11, 1945

325 U.S. 538

Syllabus

1. Section 4 of a statute of Florida (Laws of 1943, c. 21968) provides that no person shall be licensed as a "business agent" of a labor union who has not been a citizen of the United States for more than 10 years, who has been convicted of a felony, or who is not a person of good moral character. Section 6 requires every labor union operating in the State to file an annual report disclosing its name, the location of its principal offices, and the names and addresses of its officers, and to pay an annual fee of $1.00 therefor. Violation of the statute by any person or labor organization is made a misdemeanor punishable by fine and imprisonment. A state court enjoined the petitioner labor union from further functioning and operating, and enjoined its business agent from further acting in that capacity until they shall have complied with the statute.

Held: that §§ 4 and 6 of the Florida statute, as so applied, are invalid as in conflict with the National Labor Relations Act. P. 325 U. S. 541.

2. As here applied, § 4 of the Florida statute circumscribes the "full freedom" of choice of collective bargaining agents which is secured to employees by the National Labor Relations Act. P. 325 U. S. 541.

3. The requirement of reports and the exaction of a $1.00 annual fee in § 6 does not, in and of itself, conflict with the National Labor Relations Act; it is the sanction here imposed -- injunction against the labor union functioning as such -- which is inconsistent with the federally protected process of collective bargaining. P. 325 U. S. 543.

155 Fla. 254, 19 So.2d 857, reversed.

Certiorari, 324 U.S. 832, to review the affirmance of a decree granting injunctions against a labor union and its business agent until they shall have complied with the requirements of a state statute the validity of which they challenged.

Page 325 U. S. 539