Portal:Freedom of speech/Selected article/24

The Smith Act trials of Communist Party leaders were a series of trials held from 1949 to 1958 in which leaders of the Communist Party of the United States (CPUSA) were accused of violating the Smith Act, a 1940 statute that set penalties for advocating the violent overthrow of the government. The prosecution argued that the CPUSA's policies promoted violent revolution; the defendants countered that they advocated a peaceful transition to socialism, and that the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech and association protected their membership in a political party. The first trial in 1949 prosecuted the top leaders of the party and was featured in the national headlines. After a ten-month trial, all defendants were found guilty and sentenced to five-year prison terms. The judge also sent all five defense attorneys to jail for contempt of court. Prosecutors then tried over 100 additional CPUSA officers for violating the Smith Act. Some were tried solely because they were members of the CPUSA. Many defendants had difficulty finding attorneys to represent them. Prosecutions came to an end following the US Supreme Court's 1957 Yates v. United States decision, which held that defendants could be prosecuted only for their actions, not for their beliefs. Membership in the CPUSA plummeted due to the trials, and never recovered.