In the 1955 case Hyun v. Landon, District Director, Immigration and Naturalization Service, the U.S Supreme Court ruled in favor of an immigrant who had been ordered to be deported due to his past membership in a communist organization. The petitioner, John Karel Hyun was a Korean national who had lived in the United States for over three decades and served honorably during World War II. He admitted that he joined a Communist Party while studying at university but left after realizing its true nature. The court held that mere past membership without any evidence of disloyalty or subversive activity did not constitute grounds for deportation under immigration laws then in force.

In the dissenting opinion for Hyun v. Landon, Justice Douglas argued that the majority's decision was a violation of due process rights under the Fifth Amendment. He contended that deportation is a severe penalty akin to exile or banishment and should not be imposed without adequate safeguards in place. The justice believed that an alien who has been lawfully admitted into the country should have all constitutional protections available to him/her, including protection from arbitrary government action. In this case, he felt it was unjust for Mr. Hyun to face deportation based on his past membership in an organization which had since been declared illegal but wasn't at the time of his involvement. Furthermore, he emphasized that there were no allegations or evidence suggesting Mr.Hyun posed any threat to national security nor engaged in subversive activities during his stay in America; hence deporting him would be unfair and unwarranted.