The petitioner, John William Stanford, Jr., operated a mail-order book business, "All Points of View", out of his private residence in San Antonio, Texas. On December 27, 1963, Texas law enforcement officers—several Bexar County deputies and two assistant attorneys generals—appeared at Stanford's home with a warrant to search the premises. This warrant had been issued by a local magistrate for the purpose of seizing any books, lists, receipts, pictures, or other such effects related to the Communist Party of Texas, an organization that had been declared unlawful by a piece of Texas legislation known as the "Suppression Act", also known as the Texas Communist Control Law. Among other provisions, the Suppression Act made it illegal to possess writings, recordings or photographs relating to the Communist Party of Texas, each instance of such possession potentially bringing a prison sentence of 20 years.