Scales v. United States

Our writ issued in this case (358 U. S. 917) to review a judgment of the Court of Appeals (260 F. 2d 21) affirming petitioner’s conviction under the so-called membership clause of the Smith Act. 18 U. S. C. § 2385. The Act, among other things, makes a felony the acquisition or holding of knowing membership in any organization which advocates the overthrow of the Government of the United States by force or violence.1 The indictment charged that from January 1946 to the date of its filing (November 18,1954) the Communist Party of the United States was such an organization, and that petitioner *206th…