Amdt1.8.1 Overview of Freedom of Association
The First Amendment protects many activities, such as communication, assembly, and worship, that are not solely personal but may be based on communities and relationships of all kinds (that is, association). Even though the First Amendment’s text does not expressly identify a freedom of association,
1 the Supreme Court has recognized this right as an indispensable means of preserving other First Amendment freedoms.
2 Specifically, the Court has recognized a right to associate for the purpose of engaging in speech, assembly, petition for the redress of grievances, and the exercise of religion.
3
This right of expressive association is the focus of this set of essays.
4 The Court has also recognized a personal liberty interest in certain intimate human relationships, protected not only by the First Amendment, but also by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
5 This concept of intimate association is discussed at the end of this section and in the essays on substantive due process.
6
The Supreme Court did not always recognize a constitutional right of association. In 1886, in a case involving the formation of state militias, the Court decreed that state governments have the power to regulate or prohibit associations and meetings of the people, except in the case of peaceable assemblies formed to petition the government.
7 It would be fifty years before the Court came to see the right of assembly as a distinct avenue for other kinds of association.
8 In 1937, the Court held that the right of peaceable assembly is a right cognate to those of free speech and free press and is equally fundamental.
9 The Court applied this interpretation of the freedom of assembly in a 1945 case, holding that the right of union organizers to inform others about the advantages and disadvantages of joining a union is protected not only as part of free speech, but as part of free assembly.
10
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