Criminal Syndicalism Laws Cases
Numerous states and U.S. territories enacted criminal syndicalism laws in the late 1910s and early 1920s with the purpose of making it illegal for individuals or groups to advocate radical political and economic changes by criminal or violent means.
The Supreme Court regularly upheld convictions under criminal syndicalism laws until Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969). In that case, the Court held that Ohio’s law made the advocacy of doctrines illegal, without determining whether advocacy would likely lead to imminent lawless action. The Court decided that the failure to make a clear distinction rendered the law overly broad and in violation of the Constitution.
Following are Supreme Court cases involving criminal syndicalism laws and the evolution of the court's position on them.
In Abrams v. U.S., the Supreme Court in 1919 upheld the convictions of
several individuals under the 1918 Sedition Act for distributing leaflets
opposed to U.S. intervention in the Russian civil war involving the
Bolsheviks.
In Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969), the Court ruled that speech advocating
illegal conduct is protected by the First Amendment unless it is likely to
incite “imminent lawless action.”
In Burns v. United States (1927), with companion cases, the Supreme Court
ruled that the California Syndicalism Act did not violate the First
Amendment.
Fiske v. Kansas (1927) overturned a conviction under a Kansas law, saying
the law violated the First Amendment. The law made it a crime to advocate
crime to effect revolution.
In Gitlow v. New York, the Court applied free speech and press protection
to the states through the due process clause of the the Fourteenth
Amendment.
Herndon v. Lowry (1937) said Georgia’s conviction of a man for possessing
Communist literature violated the First Amendment rights of free speech and
assembly.
Although Ruthenberg v. Michigan (1927) was dismissed, Justice Brandeis’s
used his dissent to later form arguments that expanded speech protection
under the First Amendment.
Schenck v. United States (1919) demonstrated the limits to the First
Amendment during wartime and affirmed the conviction of Charles Schenck for
violating the Espionage Act.
Stromberg v. California (1931) said the conviction of a California woman
for flying the red flag of the Soviet Union violated the First Amendment
free speech rights.
Justice Louis D. Brandeis’s concurring opinion in defense of free speech in
Whitney v. California (1927) has become a milestone in First Amendment
jurisprudence.
