United Public Workers v. Mitchell
United States Supreme Court
330 U.S. 75 (1947)
Federal employees and their union (plaintiffs) sued Civil Service Commission members (defendants) seeking a declaratory judgment that the Hatch Act's ban on federal employees' active political management or campaigning was unconstitutional; only plaintiff Poole had actually violated the Act (serving as a local party committeeman and working the polls, facing proposed removal), while the other plaintiffs merely wished to engage in similar prohibited activities in the future, and the district court found the case justiciable but upheld the Act on the merits.
Whether a court may render a declaratory judgment on a law's constitutionality based on a claim that the parties' possible future actions will cause them to violate the law.