Editing Loyalty oath (section)

==== Last major loyalty oath case (1972) ====
The last major loyalty oath case heard by the court was decided in 1972, when it upheld a requirement that State of Massachusetts employees swear to uphold and defend the Constitution and to "oppose the overthrow of the [government] by force, violence, or by any illegal or unconstitutional method".<ref>{{cite book |author=Jethro Koller Lieberman |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OmA8a1Q9UekC&q=%22loyalty+oath%22+last&pg=PA292 |title=A Practical Companion to the Constitution |publisher=[[University of California]] Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-520-21280-0}}</ref>

During a case in 1972, ''Cole v. Richardson'', the court declared four requirements needed for an oath to clear First Amendment muster:<ref>{{Cite web |last=Haydel |first=Judith |title=Loyalty Oaths |url=https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/1126/loyalty-oaths |access-date=2023-05-18 |website=www.mtsu.edu |language=en}}</ref>

# It cannot go against the First or Fourteenth Amendment rights. 
# The oath cannot keep an employee from participating in protected public speaking. 
# Freedom of association cannot be used in oath as protected by the Constitution. 
# The oath should be direct and clear, so no question comes to what is meant.