3/10/2023 0 Comments Stromberg streamcloudStromberg held that the First Amendment protected certain expressive conductĪn interpretation of the statute that stifled such legitimate political discourse, even if it were symbolic, such as in the form of a red flag, threatened the democratic process. It also might be interpreted as including legal means of peaceful and orderly opposition to government - opposition protected by the Constitution. The problem was that the first clause of the statute could be interpreted as including peaceful opposition to a political party’s control of government by patriotic members of another political party who did not agree with how the party in power was exercising that power. New York (1925), clarified that states could place limits on any speech that incited to violence and threatened the overthrow of organized government.īecause the second and third clauses of the California statute were construed by the state courts as relating to incitements to violence, a conviction based on either count could be upheld. And yet, Chief Justice Hughes, relying on Gitlow v. In the opinion, he made it clear that the free speech clause of the First Amendment was one of the liberties protected from interference by the states under the Fourteenth Amendment. Court said law infringedl on First Amendment rights of free speechĬhief Justice Charles Evans Hughes wrote the majority opinion for the Supreme Court. She appealed, alleging a violation of her free speech rights. At the ceremony, the children also saluted the flag and recited a pledge of allegiance “to the worker’s red flag, and to the cause for which it stands one aim throughout our lives, freedom for the working class.”īecause of her participation in the flag ceremony, Stromberg was convicted of violating Section 403a of the California Penal Code, which criminalized displaying a red flag in a public place or in a meeting place under three conditions: (1) “as a sign, symbol or emblem of opposition to organized government,” or (2) “as an invitation or stimulus to anarchistic action,” or (3) “as an aid to propaganda that is of a seditious character.”Īt Stromberg’s trial, the general verdict of guilty that was delivered failed to distinguish which particular part of the statute Stromberg had violated. Her duties included directing the children during a daily ceremony in raising the red flag. Stromberg, a member of the Young Communist League, worked at a summer camp for children. California law made it illegal to fly a red flag as an emblem of opposition to U.S. 359 (1931), the Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that Yetta Stromberg’s conviction for flying a reproduction of the red flag of the Soviet Union and the Communist Party of the United States violated the free speech protection of the First Amendment. The documentary is titled The Land of Orange Groves and Jails, which Branfam says is a title taken from a story written by Upton Sinclair about Stromberg's First Amendment case for hosting a reproduction of the Soviet red flag. Photo illustration of Stromberg, courtesy of Judy Branfman, producer and director of an in-progress documentary on Yetta Stromberg, her great aunt.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |