Whitney v. California

Whitney v. California, 274 U.S. 357 (1927), is a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court.

Charlotte Anita Whitney, a member of the Communist Labor Party, was convicted under California’s Criminal Syndicalism Act for organizing the party, which allegedly advocated violent revolution. She argued that the law violated her First Amendment rights of speech and assembly.

Significance

Justice Sanford’s opinion upheld the conviction and the constitutionality of the Criminal Syndicalism Act. Justice Brandeis’s concurrence became one of the most celebrated defenses of free speech. He argued that the Founders believed that ‘freedom to think as you will and to speak as you think are means indispensable to the discovery and spread of political truth.’ Only an imminent threat of serious harm could justify suppressing speech. This concurrence deeply influenced modern First Amendment law and was vindicated when Whitney was overruled by Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969).

Category

US Federal Case Law