Yates v. United States Limits Smith Act Prosecutions, Supreme Court Begins Retreat from McCarthyism

On June 17, 1957, the Supreme Court issued three decisions that significantly limited McCarthyist overreach: Yates v. United States, Watkins v. United States, and Service v. Dulles. Known as “Red Monday” to conservative critics, these rulings began the judicial rollback of the security state that had flourished during the early Cold War.

In Yates v. United States, the Court distinguished between advocacy of abstract doctrine and advocacy of concrete action, reversing the Smith Act convictions of fourteen California Communist Party members. Justice John Marshall Harlan II wrote that the Smith Act required proof that defendants advocated actual violent overthrow, not merely abstract belief in revolutionary theory. The government’s evidence showed only that defendants taught Marxist-Leninist doctrine—insufficient under the Court’s stricter interpretation.

The ruling effectively gutted Smith Act prosecutions. The government dropped charges against dozens of pending defendants and obtained no further convictions under the statute. The Court ordered acquittal for five defendants and new trials for the remaining nine, though the government chose not to retry them.

The same day, in Watkins v. United States, the Court ruled that the House Un-American Activities Committee had exceeded its authority by demanding that a witness name former Communist associates. Chief Justice Warren wrote that Congressional investigations must serve a valid legislative purpose and cannot simply expose individuals for exposure’s sake.

And in Service v. Dulles, the Court ordered the reinstatement of Foreign Service officer John Stewart Service, one of the “China Hands” purged during the McCarthy era, finding that his dismissal violated State Department regulations.

Conservative outrage was intense. Senator William Jenner introduced a bill to strip the Supreme Court of jurisdiction over national security cases. “Impeach Earl Warren” billboards appeared across the South. But the decisions marked the beginning of the end for the institutional structure of McCarthyism, though informal blacklists and loyalty programs would persist for years.