Index: Smith Act

Mar 15,

1926

ACLU Sees Threats to Civil Liberties in Six Bills Before Congress

Jun 29,

1940

Advocating an Idea is Illegal: Smith Act Passed

Dec 8,

1941

Minneapolis Trotskyists Sentenced to Prison for Violating the Smith Act

Apr 14,

1944

WW II “Great Sedition Trial” Begins

Nov 29,

1944

Mistrial in Chaotic Right-Wing Sedition Trial

Jul 20,

1948

Communist Party Leaders Arrested – Test of Smith Act Ahead

Nov 1,

1948

Smith Act Trial Begins – First Amendment Test Lies Ahead

Oct 14,

1949

Communist Party Leaders Found Guilty in Major Smith Act Trial

Jan 21,

1950

“Fear Obscures Reason,” Justice Hugo Black Warns of Cold War Hysteria

Jun 4,

1951

Smith Act Held Constitutional: Severe Blow to First Amendment

Jul 9,

1951

Author Dashiell Hammett Refuses to Provide Names of Contributors to Left-Wing Bail Fund

Jan 13,

1952

Cold War: “The Black Silence of Fear”

Mar 10,

1952

“Kill the Lawyers:” Smith Act Trial Attorneys Contempt Convictions Upheld

Apr 2,

1956

Pennsylvania Sedition Law Unconstitutional Under Federal Preemption Doctrine

Jun 17,

1957

“Red Monday” – Supreme Court Limits Anti-Communist Measures

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