Other Free Encyclopedias » Law Library - American Law and Legal Information » Notable Trials and Court Cases - 1918 to 1940

De Jonge v. Oregon - Significance, Court Finds Freedom Of Assembly Protected From State Infringement

appellant justices appellee decision

Appellant

Dirk De Jonge

Appellee

State of Oregon

Appellant's Claim

That an Oregon statute outlawing criminal syndicalism, the advocacy of change of government or business ownership by violence or other unlawful means, violates the right to freedom of assembly, which is protected by the First Amendment.

Chief Lawyer for Appellant

Osmond K. Fraenkel

Chief Lawyer for Appellee

Maurice E. Tarshis

Justices for the Court

Louis D. Brandeis, Pierce Butler, Benjamin N. Cardozo, Charles Evans Hughes (writing for the Court), James Clark McReynolds, Owen Josephus Roberts, George Sutherland, Willis Van Devanter

Justices Dissenting

None (Harlan Fiske Stone did not participate)

Place

Washington, D.C.

Date of Decision

4 January 1937

Decision

Declaring that peaceable assembly is as fully protected as freedom of speech, the Supreme Court reversed Dirk De Jonge's conviction and overturned the Oregon statute.

Related Cases

  • Stromberg v. California, 283 U.S. 359 (1931).
  • Palko v. Connecticut, 302 U.S. 319 (1937).
  • Yates v. United States, 355 U.S. 66 (1957).

Further Readings

  • Abernathy, M. Glenn. The Right of Assembly and Association, 2nd ed. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1981.
  • Salerno, Salvatore. Red November, Black November: Culture and Community in the Industrial Workers of the World. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1989.
  • Worton, Stanley N. Freedom of Assembly and Petition. Rochelle Park, NJ: Hayden Book Co., 1975.

Additional Topics

De Jonge v. Oregon - Significance

De Jonge marked the first time the right of free assembly was made applicable to the states by means of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. On 27 July 1934, Dirk De Jonge, a member of the Communist Party, participated in a party meeting in Portland, Oregon. The meeting had been called by the Communist Party to protest illegal raids on workers' halls and homes, as well as the shooti…

De Jonge v. Oregon - Court Finds Freedom Of Assembly Protected From State Infringement

Writing for a unanimous Court, Chief Justice Hughes found that De Jonge, who had done no more than participate in a meeting called to air grievances, not to advocate government overthrow, had been wrongfully convicted. His rights to freedom of assembly, guaranteed at the federal level by the First Amendment, could not, because of the Fourteenth Amendment, be abridged by the state. Freedom of assem…

Erie R. Co. v. Tompkins - Significance, The Court Changes Course, A "radical Change", Impact [next] [back] David Marshall Trial: 1926 - Double Confession, Cigars And Hilarity

User Comments

Your email address will be altered so spam harvesting bots can't read it easily.
Hide my email completely instead?

Cancel or