Immigrants, Aliens, Foreigners, First Amendment Rights of Cases
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 American Academy of Religion v. Chertoff (2006), a New York court
affirmed the First Amendment rights of scholars who had invited an Islamic
scholar to teach.
One case that is sometimes overlooked in discussions of the First Amendment is that of Baumgartner v. United States. The primary issue at stake had to do with whether a naturalized citizen who lived in Kansas City, Missouri, could lose his citizenship for falsely renouncing allegiance to Germany upon naturalization. Part of the case rested on
Bridges v. Wixon (1945) ruled that the U.S. could not deport a legal
immigrant for his Communist Party affiliation. The Court said legal aliens
had First Amendment rights.
Carlson v. Landon (1952) upheld the detention of resident aliens without
bail. The decision split the court over the First Amendment rights of
aliens.
In Girouard v. United States, the Supreme Court held that citizenship
applicants do not have to swear they will bear arms if they have religious
objections.
Harisiades v. Shaughnessy upheld a provision of the Alien Registration Act
of 1940, requiring deportation of resident aliens who advocate the unlawful
overthrow of the government.
President Trump signed executive orders suspending immigration from
predominantly predominately Muslim nations. Courts said the order violated
the First Amendment.
The Court decision in Kimm v. Rosenberg (1960 focused chiefly on the
self-incrimination provision of the Fifth Amendment, but it also had
implications for First Amendment freedoms.
In Kleindienst v. Mandel (1972), the Court held that First Amendment
protections did not extend to non-citizens, even if invited to the country
for academic purposes.
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 the naturalized citizenship of an immigrant because of his
communist views.
In 1904, the Supreme Court upheld the planned deportation of anarchist and
alien John Turner under the Anarchist Exclusion Act. In Turner v. Williams,
the Court rejected arguments from Clarence Darrow that Turner
identification as an anarchist was a statement of political belief.
United States v. Macintosh (1931) rejected that the First Amendment’s
protection of conscientious objectors extended to those applying for
citizenship.
A historic dissent in United States v. Schwimmer (1929) by Oliver Wendell
Holmes Jr. calls for toleration of free thought as a principle of the First
Amendment.
