Hirschman

Plaintiffs, permanent civil service employees of the county of Los Angeles, were discharged because they refused to execute the oath and affidavits prescribed by orders of the county board of supervisors made in 1947 and 1948. [fn. *] The county civil service commission sustained the discharges after a hearing upon stipulated facts, and plaintiffs sought a writ of mandate in the superior court to compel their reinstatement and the payment of wages retroactive to the date of discharge. This appeal was taken from the judgment denying the requested relief.

The oath and affidavits are as follows:

"A. Oath of Office or Employment"

"I, __________ do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution and laws of the State of California, against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office or employment on which I am about to enter or am now engaged. SO HELP ME GOD."

"B. Affidavit re Subversive…

I dissent.

For the reasons stated in my dissenting opinion in Pockman v. Leonard, this day filed, ante, p. 676 [ 249 P.2d 267 ], I would reverse the judgment with directions to the trial court to issue a writ of mandate in accordance with the prayer of plaintiffs’ complaint.

Appellants’ petition for a rehearing was denied November 14, 1952. Carter, J., was of the opinion that the petition should be granted.

The following opinion was then rendered;

In their petition for rehearing plaintiffs, who are civil service employees of Los Angeles County, claim that the county oath should be invalidated on the ground that the field of loyalty oath requirements for all public employees had been fully occupied by sections 1360 et seq. of the Government Code which provide that every officer shall take the constitutional oath before entering upon the duties of his office. The term “officer” as used therein clearly includes both state and county officers (see § 1363(b)), but the provisions requiring execution of the oath do not mention employees and cannot reasonably be read as applying to all persons in public employment. That the Legislature had no such intent was made clear by the…

Plaintiffs, permanent civil service employees of the county of Los Angeles, were discharged because they refused to execute the oath and affidavits prescribed by orders of the county board of supervisors made in 1947 and 1948. * The county civil service commission sustained the discharges after a hearing upon stipulated facts, and plaintiffs sought a writ of mandate in the superior court to compel their reinstatement and the payment of wages retroactive to the date of discharge. This appeal was taken from the judgment denying the requested relief.

The oath and affidavits are as follows:

All of the facts pertinent to this case were stipulated to by the parties when the matter was before the county civil service commission. It appears that plaintiffs were given an opportunity to take the oath and make the affidavits but did not do so. Thereafter, on April 27, 1948, the board of supervisors ordered all department heads to direct the employees under them to execute the oath and affidavits immediately. Plaintiffs were advised of this order and were informed that refusal to comply would be considered insubordination. On or about May 5th plaintiffs refused to obey the order on the…