Baird v. State Bar of Arizona

Baird v. State Bar of Arizona, 401 U.S. 1 (1971), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court ruled:

"A State's power to inquire about a person's beliefs or associations is limited by the First Amendment, which prohibits a State from excluding a person from a profession solely because of membership in a political organization or because of his beliefs."

In this case, a law school graduate who had passed the Arizona written bar examination had applied to be admitted to the Arizona bar, but had refused to answer a question as to whether she had ever been a member of the Communist party. On that basis, the State Bar of Arizona refused to admit her.