Everything about Dennis V United States totally explained
Dennis v. United States,, was a
United States Supreme Court case involving
Eugene Dennis,
general secretary of the
Communist Party, USA and dealing with citizens' rights under the
First Amendment to the
Constitution of the United States.
The case
George W. Crockett, Jr.,
Abraham J. Isserman and
Harry Sacher argued the cause for
petitioners. With them on the brief was
Richard Gladstein.
Solicitor General Philip B. Perlman and
Irving S. Shapiro argued the cause for the
United States. With them on the brief were
U.S. Attorney General James Howard McGrath,
U.S. Assistant Attorney General McInerney,
Irving H. Saypol,
Robert W. Ginnane,
Frank H. Gordon,
Edward C. Wallace, and
Lawrence K. Bailey.
Petitioners were indicted in
July,
1948 for violating a provision of the
Smith Act. Petitioners were found guilty by the trial court and the decision was affirmed by the
Second Circuit Court of Appeals. The
U.S. Supreme Court granted
writ of certiorari, but limited it to whether section two or three of the Smith Act violated the first Amendment and whether the same two sections violated the first and fifth amendments because of indefiniteness.
The judgment
Handed down as a 6-2 decision by the Court on June 4, 1951, the judgment and a plurality opinion was delivered by
Chief Justice of the United States Fred Vinson, who was joined by Justices
Stanley Forman Reed,
Sherman Minton, and
Harold H. Burton. Separate concurring opinions were delivered by Justices
Felix Frankfurter and
Robert H. Jackson. Justices
Hugo Black and
William O. Douglas wrote separate dissenting opinions. Justice
Tom C. Clark didn't participate in this case.
The Court ruled affirmed the conviction of the petitioner, a leader of the
Communist Party in the
United States. Dennis had been convicted of conspiring and organizing for the overthrow and destruction of the United States government by force and violence under provisions of the
Smith Act. In affirming the conviction, a plurality of the Court adopted Judge
Learned Hand's formulation of the clear and present danger test:
In each case [courts] must ask whether the gravity of the "evil," discounted by its improbability, justifies such invasion of free speech as necessary to avoid the danger.
In his dissent, Black wrote:
There is hope, however, that in calmer times, when present pressures, passions and fears subside, this or some later Court will restore the First Amendment liberties to the high preferred place where they belong in a free society.
Further Information
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