This week, in its final "decision Monday" of the session, the Supreme Court upheld the conspiracy conviction of the eleven top U.S. Communists. The vote was 6 to 2. Chief Justice Vinson, in his 7,700-word majority opinion, called the Communist conspiracy a "clear and present danger."
Justice Holmes's famed dictum, that free speech is hazardous only when such a danger exists, "cannot mean that before the Government may act, it must wait until the Putsch is about to be executed, the plans have been laid and the signal is awaited," said Vinson.
Upholding for the first time the constitutionality of the...