De Jonge v. Oregon

De Jonge v. Oregon
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued December 9, 1936 Decided January 4, 1937
Full case name	Dirk De Jonge v. State of Oregon
Citations	299 U.S. 353 (more) 57 S. Ct. 255, 81 L. Ed. 278, 1937 U.S. LEXIS 1135
Case history
Prior	State v. De Jonge, 152 Or. 315, 51 P.2d 674 (1936); probable jurisdiction noted, 57 S. Ct. 45 (1936).
Holding
The Oregon statute was unconstitutional as applied in this case. Even though the Communist Party generally advocated violent revolution, the First Amendment bars a prosecution for attending a peaceful public meeting called by that Party. Oregon Supreme Court reversed.
Court membership
Chief Justice Charles E. Hughes Associate Justices Willis Van Devanter · James C. McReynolds Louis Brandeis · George Sutherland Pierce Butler · Harlan F. Stone Owen Roberts · Benjamin N. Cardozo
Case opinion
Majority	Hughes, joined by Van Devanter, McReynolds, Brandeis, Sutherland, Butler, Roberts, Cardozo
Stone took no part in the consideration or decision of the case.
This case overturned a previous ruling or rulings
United States v. Cruikshank, 1876 (in part)

De Jonge v. Oregon, 299 U.S. 353 (1937), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that the Fourteenth Amendment's due process clause applies the First Amendment right of freedom of assembly to the individual U.S. states.^[1] The Court found that Dirk De Jonge had the right to speak at a peaceful public meeting held by the Communist Party, even though the party generally advocated an industrial or political change in revolution. However, in the 1950s with the fear of communism on the rise, the Court ruled in Dennis v. United States (1951) that Eugene Dennis, who was the leader of the Communist Party, violated the Smith Act by advocating the forcible overthrow of the United States government.^[2]