De Jonge v. Oregon

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.