In a stunning courtroom admission during a November 19, 2025 hearing, the Justice Department acknowledged that the full grand jury never reviewed the final indictment against former FBI Director James Comey. Prosecutor Tyler Lemons confirmed that only two grand jurors—the foreperson and one other …
James ComeyLindsey HalliganMichael DreebenJudge Michael NachmanoffDonald Trump+3 moredoj-weaponizationvindictive-prosecutionabuse-of-powergrand-jurylegal-violation+2 more
On Friday, November 14, 2025, President Donald Trump used Truth Social to publicly order Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Department of Justice to investigate his political opponents in connection with Jeffrey Epstein, marking a brazen erosion of DOJ independence and raising profound …
Donald TrumpPamela BondiBill ClintonLarry SummersReid Hoffman+2 moreepsteindojabuse of powerpolitical persecutiontrump administration
On the 30th day of the Army-McCarthy hearings, Boston lawyer Joseph Welch—hired by the Army to make its case—delivered one of the most famous rebukes in American political history. The hearings, which ran from April to June 1954, investigated conflicting accusations between the U.S. Army and Senator …
Joseph WelchJoseph McCarthyRoy CohnG. David Schinered-scarepolitical-persecutioninstitutional-resistancemedia
On April 12, 1954, the Atomic Energy Commission’s Personnel Security Board commenced hearings against J. Robert Oppenheimer, the American scientist who had directed the Los Alamos Laboratory during World War II as part of the Manhattan Project to develop the atomic bomb. The hearing resulted …
J. Robert OppenheimerLewis StraussGordon GrayJ. Edgar HooverWilliam L. Bordenred-scarepolitical-persecutionsurveillance-statescientific-communityinstitutional-corruption
On June 19, 1953, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed by electric chair at Sing Sing prison, becoming the first American civilians executed for espionage during peacetime and the only Americans executed for Cold War spy activities. Their case remains the most controversial capital punishment in …
Julius RosenbergEthel RosenbergRoy CohnIrving SaypolIrving Kaufman+3 moremccarthyismred-scarecapital-punishmentcivil-libertiespolitical-persecution+1 more
On June 4, 1951, the United States Supreme Court ruled 6-2 in Dennis v. United States, upholding the convictions of eleven Communist Party leaders under the Smith Act of 1940. The decision effectively criminalized political advocacy, allowing prosecution for teaching or advocating revolutionary …
Fred VinsonU.S. Supreme CourtEugene DennisCommunist Party USADepartment of Justicemccarthyismcivil-libertiesjudicialfirst-amendmentred-scare+1 more
In early 1951, the Hollywood Ten—screenwriters and directors cited for contempt of Congress in 1947 for refusing to answer HUAC’s questions about Communist Party membership—were released after serving prison terms ranging from six months to one year. Their freedom from incarceration, however, …
Hollywood TenDalton TrumboRing Lardner Jr.John Howard LawsonHouse Un-American Activities Committee+1 moremccarthyismcivil-libertiesblacklistentertainment-industryfirst-amendment+1 more
On March 29, 1951, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were found guilty of conspiracy to commit espionage after a three-week trial that began on March 6, 1951. The couple had been charged with providing top-secret information about American radar, sonar, jet propulsion engines, and nuclear weapon designs to …
Julius RosenbergEthel RosenbergDavid GreenglassRuth GreenglassRoy Cohn+1 morered-scarepolitical-persecutionsurveillance-statedeath-penaltyinstitutional-corruption
In 1950, California passed the Levering Act, requiring all state employees to sign a loyalty oath swearing they did not belong to organizations advocating overthrow of the government. The law followed a bitter fight at the University of California that had already fired 31 faculty members for …
California LegislatureEarl WarrenUniversity of California Board of RegentsAmerican Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)mccarthyismcivil-libertiesacademic-freedomred-scarepolitical-persecution+1 more
In 1950, the State Department revoked the American passport of Paul Robeson—All-American football player, Phi Beta Kappa recipient at Rutgers, Columbia Law School graduate, internationally acclaimed concert performer, actor, and persuasive political speaker. The revocation came in response to …
Paul RobesonState DepartmentJ. Edgar HooverFBIred-scarecivil-libertiespolitical-persecutionsurveillance-stateracial-justice
On February 9, 1950, junior senator Joseph McCarthy from Wisconsin delivered a Lincoln’s birthday address to the Women’s Republican Club of Wheeling, West Virginia, claiming he possessed a list of communists working in the State Department. McCarthy declared: “While I cannot take …
Joseph McCarthyHarry S. Trumanred-scarepolitical-persecutiondisinformationinstitutional-corruptionauthoritarian-tactics
On August 3, 1948, Whittaker Chambers, a former Communist Party USA member, testified under subpoena before the House Un-American Activities Committee that Alger Hiss—a former State Department official who had accompanied FDR to Yalta—had secretly been a communist while in federal service. Hiss …
On January 3, 1945, the House of Representatives votes to make the Dies Committee a permanent standing committee, renamed the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). Mississippi Representative John Rankin, a virulent segregationist and antisemite, engineers the transformation through a …
House of RepresentativesJohn RankinMartin DiesHouse Un-American Activities Committeered-scarepolitical-persecutioncivil-libertiesinstitutional-capturelegislative-overreach
Congress passes the Alien Registration Act, commonly known as the Smith Act after its sponsor Representative Howard W. Smith of Virginia, on June 28, 1940. The law makes it a criminal offense to “knowingly or willfully advocate, abet, advise, or teach the duty, necessity, desirability, or …
Howard W. SmithCongressDepartment of JusticeFranklin D. Rooseveltcivil-libertiesfirst-amendmentpolitical-persecutionred-scarelabor-suppression+1 more
The Federalist-controlled Congress passes the Alien and Sedition Acts, a set of four statutes that restrict immigration and criminalize criticism of the federal government under the guise of national security during tensions with France. The legislation increases the residency requirement for …
President John AdamsFederalist PartySecretary of State Timothy PickeringDemocratic-Republican newspaper editorsCongressman Matthew Lyondemocratic-erosionfree-speech-suppressionpolitical-persecutionauthoritarian-powerinstitutional-capture