Public Workers v. Mitchell

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United Public Workers of America v. Mitchell, 330 U.S. 75 (1947), the federal employees sued to enjoin the Hatch Act of 1939, which prohibited federal executive branch employees from engaging in politics. The employees' boss had told them that they couldn't participate in political campaigns without being fired, leading the employees to file suit. The U.S. Supreme Court awarded standing to one plaintiff who had actually been threatened with termination; the other employees had not faced such a direct threat, and their cases were dismissed for lack of ripeness.

In 1947, the Court decided in United Public Workers v. Mitchell, that a group of federal workers could not block enforcement of a law that created only the possibility of a threat to 9th amendments rights