Smith Act

Smith Act

Other short titles	Civilian and Military Organizations License Act
Long title	An Act to prohibit certain subversive activities; to amend certain provisions of law with respect to the admission and deportation of aliens; to require the fingerprinting and registration of aliens; and for other purposes.
Acronyms (colloquial)	ARA
Nicknames	Alien Registration Act, 1940
Enacted by	the 76th United States Congress
Effective	June 28, 1940
Citations
Public law	Pub. L.Tooltip Public Law (United States) 76–670
Statutes at Large	54 Stat. 670, Chapter 439
Codification
Acts repealed	Repealed. June 27, 1952, ch. 477, title IV, § 403(a)(39), 66 Stat. 280, eff. Dec. 24, 1952 [1]
Titles amended	8 U.S.C.: Aliens and Nationality
U.S.C. sections created	8 U.S.C. ch. 10 § 451
Legislative history
Introduced in the House as H.R. 5138 by Howard W. Smith (D–VA) on June 29, 1939 Committee consideration by House Judiciary, Senate Judiciary Passed the House on July 29, 1939 (Passed) Passed the Senate on June 15, 1940 (Passed) Reported by the joint conference committee on June 17, 1940; agreed to by the House on June 22, 1940 (382-4) and by the Senate on June 22, 1940 (Agreed) Signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on June 28, 1940
United States Supreme Court cases
Harisiades v. Shaughnessy, 342 U.S. 580 (1952) Bridges v. Wixon Dennis v. United States Yates v. United States Watkins v. United States Scales v. United States

The Alien Registration Act, popularly known as the Smith Act, 76th United States Congress, 3d session, ch. 439, 54 Stat. 670, 18 U.S.C. § 2385 is a United States federal statute that was enacted on June 28, 1940. It set criminal penalties for advocating the overthrow of the U.S. government by force or violence, and required all non-citizen adult residents to register with the federal government.

Approximately 215 people were indicted under the legislation, including alleged communists and socialists. Prosecutions under the Smith Act continued until a series of U.S. Supreme Court decisions in 1957^[2] reversed a number of convictions under the Act as being unconstitutional. The law has been amended several times.