On July 25, Pennsylvania’s Attorney General instructed state elections officials to delete the “loyalty oath” on declarations of candidacy. The law, which was upheld in federal court in 1970, requires all candidates for state and local office to swear that they are not “subversive persons”.

The Attorney General acted after he was informed that the Socialist Workers Party was about to sue, to overturn the oath. In 1974 the U.S. Supreme Court had unanimously ruled that such candidate and political party oaths violate the First Amendment.