Whitney v. California

274 U.S. 357 (1927)

Majority Opinion by Justice Sanford

Like Gitlow, Whitney concerns a conviction for criminal syndicalism. And once again, Justice Sanford wrote the majority opinion upholding the conviction against a First Amendment challenge. Here the defendant Anita Whitney was prosecuted for her part in organizing the Communist Labor Party (CLP), a radical splinter from the Oakland branch of the Socialist Party. The CLP adopted a platform similar to the Left Wing Manifesto at issue in Gitlow. Given these similarities, it comes as no surprise that Sanford leaned heavily on Gitlow to justify his analysis. This quote is representative:

“That [a state] may punish those who abuse [freedom of speech] by utterances inimical to the public welfare, tending to incite to crime, disturb the public peace, or endanger the foundations of organized government and threaten its overthrow by unlawful means, is not open to question. [Gitlow.] [The legislative] determination must be given great weight. [The] essence of the offense [is] the combining with others in an association for the accomplishment of the desired ends through the advocacy and use of criminal and unlawful methods.”

Notably, Sanford did not directly respond to Justice Brandeis’ separate opinion. This is likely because Brandeis (with Holmes) concurred in the Court’s judgment. However, since neither Brandeis nor Holmes joined Sanford’s opinion, it is represented as receiving 7 votes – just like the majority opinions in Gitlow and Abrams.

USEFUL LINKS

CourtListener (full opinion text)

Oyez (summary)

Wikipedia (summary + links)