Broadrick v. Oklahoma
United States Supreme Court
413 U.S. 601 (1973)
Broadrick and two other Oklahoma corporation-commission employees (plaintiffs) campaigned and solicited donations for a commissioner's reelection, violating a state law barring various political activities by state employees, meant to protect them from political pressure or extortion. Facing discipline, the employees sued Oklahoma officials (defendants) in federal court, arguing two paragraphs of the law — barring solicitation of political donations and barring management roles in political organizations or running for paid office — were unconstitutionally vague and overbroad. The district court upheld the law, and the case reached the Supreme Court alongside a related challenge to the federal Hatch Act, which the Court had just upheld.
Whether a party whose own conduct falls within a statute's legitimate bounds may challenge the statute as unconstitutionally overbroad based on how it might apply to other persons or circumstances not before the court.