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| | | Dennis v. United States (docket #: 336) (1951)
[Findlaw]
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Secondary Link
| Dennis v. United States
[Legal Information Institute]
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Argument Date
| 12/04/1950 |
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Decided
| 06/04/1951 |
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Supreme Court Vote
| 6-2 |
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Note
| Though criticized, Dennis has never been formally overruled. Also, Judge Learned Hand wrote the opinion for the Court of Appeals in which he affirmed the judgment of Judge Harold Medina who presided over the controversial trial of Eugene Dennis. |
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Supreme Court Ruling
| First Amendment claims denied. |
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| | | Issue | Whether the Smith Act -- which makes it a crime to "knowingly or willfully advocate, abet, advise, or teach the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying any government in the United States by force or violence, or by assignation" -- is on its face and as applied to the Petitioners violative of the First Amendment. | |
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Majority Opinion
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Vinson, C.J. (announced judgment of majority) |
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Concurring Opinion
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separate opinions by Frankfurter, J., & Jackson, J. |
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Dissenting Opinion
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Black, J., & Douglas, J. |
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Lower Court
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2nd Circuit |
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Lower Court Ruling
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First Amendment claim denied |
| Lawyers |
George W. Crockett, Jr., Abraham J. Isserman & Harry Sacher
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Solicitor General Perlman & Irving S. Shapiro
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| Briefs |
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| News |
"10 Top Reds of U.S. Get Maximum 5-Yr. Terms," Washington Post, October 22, 1949, p. 1
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"11 Top Reds Found Guilty and Medina Jails Counsel," Washington Post, October 15, 1949, p. 1
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"Accused Reds Protest Use of 400 Police," Washington Post, January 18, 1949, p. 1
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"Brief Biographies of Accused Reds," New York Times, October 15, 1949, p. 2
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"Text of Indictment of 12 Communists," New York Times, January 17, 1949, p. 9
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"Text of Judge Medina’s Charge to the Jury at the Trial of the Communist Leaders," New York Times, October 14, 1949, p. 14
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"The Trial of Communist Leaders," Time Magazine, April 4, 1949, p. 24
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Porter, Russell, "11 Communists Convicted of Plot; Medina to Sentence Them Friday; 6 of Counsel Jailed in Contempt," New York Times, October 15, 1949, p. 1
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Roberts, Chalmers M., "Judge Hand Echoes a Famous Opinion," Washington Post, August 6, 1950, sect. B, p. 1
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Roosevelt, Quentin, "Sketchbook of Communists’ Trial," New York Times, June 19, 1949, Sunday Mag., p. 8
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| Other |
Belknap, Michael R., COLD WAR POLITICAL JUSTICE (1977)
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Boudin, Louis, "‘Seditious Doctrines’ and the Clear and Present Danger’ Rule," 38 Virginia Law Review 178 (1952)
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Collins, Ronald & Skover, David, "What is War? -- Free Speech in Wartime," 36 Rutgers Law Journal (No. 3, 2005)
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Corwin, Edward S., "Bowing Out ‘Clear and Present Danger,’" 27 Notre Dame Law Review 358 (1952)
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Daniel, Hawthorne, JUDGE MEDINA: A BIOGRAPHY (1952)
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Dickson, Del, THE SUPREME COURT IN CONFERENCE (1940-1985): THE PRIVATE DISCUSSIONS BEHIND NEARLY 300 SUPREME COURT DECISIONS (2001), pp. 276-279
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Emerson, Thomas, THE SYSTEM OF FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION (1970), pp. 112-121
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Gorfinkel, John A. & Mack, II, Julian W., "Dennis v. United States & the Clear and Present Danger Test," 39 California Law Review 475 (1951)
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Greenawalt, Kent, SPEECH, CRIME & THE USES OF LANGUAGE (1989)
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Gunther, Gerald, LEARNED HAND: THE MAN & THE JUDGE (1994)
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Howard, Jr., J. Woodford, "Judge Harold R. Medina," 69 Judicature 126 (1985)
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Linde, Hans, "Clear & Present Danger Reexamined," 22 Stanford Law Review 1163 (1970)
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Mendelson, Wallace, "Clear and Present Danger From Schenck to Dennis," 52 Columbia Law Review 313 (1952)
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Mollan, R., "Smith Act Prosecutions: The Effect of the Dennis and Yates Decisions," 26 University of Pittsburgh Law Review 705 (1965)
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Rabban, David, FREE SPEECH IN ITS FORGOTTEN YEARS (1997), pp. 376-78
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Redish, Martin H., THE LOGIC OF PERSECUTION: FREE EXPRESSION AND THE McCARTHY ERA (2005), pp. 80-106
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Richardson, Elliot, "Freedom of Expression & the Function of the Courts,"65 Harvard Law Review 1 (1951)
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Stone, Geoffrey R., PERILOUS TIMES: FREE SPEECH IN WARTIME (Norton, 2004), pp. 395-415, 521-524
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Wiecek, William M., THE BIRTH OF THE MODERN CONSTITUTION: THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT, 1941-1953 (Holmes Devise, vol. XII, 2006), pp. 551-578
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