Case Categories: Communist Organizations and Freedom of Association

The Supreme Court developed several First Amendment doctrines in cases growing out of conflict between various members of the Communist Party and federal and state officials.

Congress adopted several statutes aimed at or applicable to communists, including the Alien Registration Act, or Smith Act, of 1940; the Internal Security Act, or McCarran Internal Security Act of 1950, also known as the Subversive Activities Control Act; and the Communist Control Act of 1954.

States also adopted criminal anarchy or criminal syndicalism laws aimed at communists, particularly during and after World War I — when communists gained control of Russia in 1917, and after which they often maintained ties to the American Communist Party — and in the 1940s and 1950s during the red scare. Such statutes included loyalty oaths and registration requirements, which led to several First Amendment challenges before the Supreme Court.

Following are Supreme Court cases involving those laws.

• American Committee for Protection of Foreign Born v. Subversive Activities Control Board (1965)

  American Committee for Protection of Foreign Born v. Subversive Activities Control Board (1965) said the control board should reconsider a group's communist...

• Communist Control Act of 1954 (1954)

  The Communist Control Act of 1954, which outlawed the Communist Party, impinged upon numerous constitutional rights, including First Amendment rights...

• Communist Party of Indiana v. Whitcomb (1974)

  Communist Party of Indiana v. Whitcomb (1974) overturned a law requiring a loyalty oath for party ballot access. The law violated the First Amendment right of...

• Communist Party of the United States v. Subversive Activities Control Board (1961)

  Community Party of the United States v. Subversive Activities Control Board (1961) revoked the Communist Party's First Amendment freedom of association due to...

• Dennis v. United States (1951)

  Dennis v. United States (1951) applied the First Amendment clear and present danger test to uphold the convictions of U.S.-based communists for their political...

• Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee v. McGrath (1951)

  In Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee v. McGrath (1951), the Court furthered First Amendment rights of association by ruling that blacklisted organizations...

• Konigsberg v. State Bar (1961)

  Konigsberg v. State Bar (1961) addressed bar applicants' First Amendment rights after an applicant refused to answer questions about his Communist affiliation...

• Noto v. United States (1961)

  Noto v. United States (1961) said that the First Amendment prohibits convicting individuals for the mere abstract teaching of the moral propriety of violence...

• Scales v. United States (1961)

  Scales v. United States (1961) looked at the First Amendment right of association and upheld the conviction of Scales for being a member of the Communist Party...

• Schneiderman v. United States (1943)

  In Schneiderman v. United States, the Supreme Court invoked First Amendment protection of freedom of belief in deciding that the United States could not revoke...

• Stanford v. Texas (1965)

  Stanford v. Texas (1965) ruled that a general warrant to seize books and pamphlets from a person's home was overly broad and implicated First Amendment freedoms...

• United States v. Robel (1967)

  Basing the decision on the freedom of association under the First Amendment, the Supreme Court in 1967 upheld the dismissal of an indictment against a Communist...

• W.E.B. DuBois Clubs of America v. Clark (1967)

  The Supreme Court in 1967 rejected a claim by the W.E.B. Dubois Clubs of America, the youth arm of the Communist Party in the United States, that the McCarran...

• Yates v. United States (1957)

  Yates v. United States (1957) was one of the last cases involving the prosecution of American Communists and ruled that that the First Amendment protects...