Scales v. United States, 367 U.S. 203 (1961), was a 1960 decision of the United States Supreme Court that upheld the conviction of Junius Scales for violating of the Smith Act on the basis on his membership in the Communist Party of the United States (CPUSA).
Decision Junius Scales was the leader of the North Carolina branch of the CPUSA. He was convicted in 1955, but the sentence was overturned on appeal due to procedural mistakes by the prosecution. He was retried and convicted again in 1958. Prosecutors pursued Scales' case because he specifically advocated violent political action and gave demonstrations of martial arts skills.Daniel Levin, "Smith Act," in Paul Finkelman, Encyclopedia of American Civil Liberties, vol. 1 (Routledge, 2006), 1488, available online, accessed June 13, 2012
Scales appealed his conviction to the Supreme Court. He contended that the 1950 McCarran Internal Security Act rendered the Smith Act's membership clause ineffective, because the McCarran Act explicitly stated that membership in a communist party does not constitute a per se violation of any criminal statute. Scales v. United States, Oyez, retrieved March 20, 2012. On June 5, 1961, the Supreme Court, in a 5–4 decision, upheld the conviction of Scales, finding that the Smith Act membership clause was constitutional because it required prosecutors to prove that there was direct advocacy of violence and that the membership was substantial and active, not passive or technical.Willis, Clyde, Student's guide to landmark congressional laws on the First Amendment, Greenwood, 2002, p 47, . Justices Harlan and Frankfurter, who joined the 1957 Yates decision that held that free speech is protected unless it poses a "clear and present danger", joined the majority in Scales.Belknap, Michal, "Communism and Cold War", in Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court, 2005, pp 199.
A New York Times editorial a few days after the decision said that the Court had departed from the "Holmes-Brandeis" view by punishing "membership in a party that advocates violent overthrow" rather than "conspiring to advocate". It continued:New York Times: ""The Court on Communism," June 7, 1961, accessed June 20, 2012
In a letter to the Times, Rep. Francis E. Walter, chair of the House Un-American Activities Committee, countered:New York Times: Francis E. Walter, "Letters to the Editor: Party Threat to Freedom," June 14, 1961, accessed June 20, 1961. Walters' letter is dated June 8, 1961. The New York Times.
President John F. Kennedy commuted Scales' sentence on Christmas Eve, 1962. Scales was the last person convicted under the Smith Act to be released from prison.New York Times: Ari L. Goldman, "Junius Scales, Communist Sent to Prison, Dies at 82," August 7, 2002, accessed April 23, 2011; New York Times: "Clemency for Scales," December 28, 1962, accessed April 23, 2011. . See also Arthur J. Sabin, In Calmer Times: The Supreme Court and Red Monday (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999), 60
Scales was the last member of the CPUSA convicted under the Smith Act and the only person convicted under its membership clause whose conviction was not overturned on appeal. Others were convicted under the Act for conspiring to overthrow the government. Scales is the only Supreme Court decision to uphold a conviction based solely upon membership in a political party.Tate, Cindy L., Mersky, Roy M., Hartman, Gary R., "Scales v. United States", in Landmark Supreme Court Cases, Infobase Publishing, 2004, pp 428–429, .
See also Dennis v. United States, Noto v. United States, Yates v. United States, Smith Act trials of communist party leaders
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zh:丹尼斯诉合众国案