"A pall of orthodoxy": The Painful Persistence of Loyalty Oaths

Who could object to Ohio's anti-terrorist oath? Created as part of the 2006 "Ohio Patriot Act," it merely requires every new public employee to answer "no" to six questions regarding affiliation with, or "material support" to, any organization on the U.S. State Department's "Terrorist Exclusion List." The oath also applies to anybody who has state or city contracts worth more than $100,000 in a given year.

Beneath the uncontroversial veneer of this anti-terrorist measure, however, is a reincarnation of the "test oath" that has long been used by governments to coerce their subjects into religious or political conformity. When Ohio attorney Marc Triplett, who contracts with the state to represent indigent defendants, was confronted with the oath in 2006, he secured the help of the American Civil Liberties Union and filed a legal challenge.