For years, libertarians had fought laws and policies barring Communists from teaching as direct assaults on the First Amendment, while supporters of loyalty programs had painted all Communists as mental slaves of Moscow. In 1952 the Supreme Court upheld New York's 1949 Feinberg Law, which required detailed procedures for investigating the loyalty of every public-school teacher and ousting anyone who had engaged in "treasonable or seditious acts or utterances" or joined an organization that advocated the overthrow of the government by "force, violence, or any unlawful means." It was a typical cold-war-era loyalty law; hence, "Adler v. Board of Education," the Supreme Court's 1952 decision upholding it, had nationwide repercussions. In "Adler," a majority of the court found no First Amendment problem with the Feinberg Law. Embracing the anti-Communist fervor of the time, the court said that teachers had no right to their jobs; and because they worked "in a sensitive area" where they shaped young minds, the authorities were entitled to investigate their political beliefs. Even at that unfortunate moment for free speech, however, the court was not unanimous. Fifteen years later, in 1967, "Adler" was overturned by the ruling on "Keyishian v. Board of Regents," which rejected the idea that restrictions on expression, ideas, and political associations are permissible under the First Amendment as conditions of public employment. Battles over free speech on the campus continue to bedevil the national politics. Today's war on terrorism has replaced anti-Communism as a justification for limiting civil liberties, both on the campus and off. Professors' free-speech rights are no greater than everybody else's. But their special task in furthering democracy requires protections.