Dennis+v+United+States

=**Dennis v. United States** =

**Important Dates**
Argued: [|Friday, December 1, 1950] Decided: [|Monday, June 4, 1951]

**Involved**
Communist Party of the United States (CPUSA) and the United States Government

**Premise**
The Smith Act made it a crime "to knowingly and willfully advocate, abet, advise or teach the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying anygovernment in the United States by force or violence." It also made it a crime for anyone to organize a group with the mission of violently overthrowing the U.S. Government. The CPUSA was suspected of collarborating with Communist party leaders in the Soviet Union and part of their central Communist ideology is the inevitibility of a violent revolution to advance the cause of communism throughout the world. With this perceived threat in mind, the Smith Act was passed as a weapon against U.S. communists.

**Issue**
Does it violate the right to free speech? (First Amendment) First Amendment of the Constitution says "Congress shall make no law....abridging the freedom of speech or of the press."

**Decision**
The Court upheld the conviction of Dennis and 10 other members of the CPUSA. Chief Justice Fred M. Vinson argued that protecting the national security of the United States justified use of the Smith Act to limit the free speech of individuals advocating forcible overthrow of the national government.

**Dissent**
Justices Hugo Black and William O. Douglas believed the Smith Act was unconstitutional.

**References**
<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">p. 108 Decision Days