Stack v. Boyle
Encyclopedia
Stack v. Boyle, 342 U.S. 1 (1951), was a United States Supreme Court case involving the arrest of members of the Communist Party who were charged with conspiring to violate the Smith Act
. The case regards the Eighth Amendment
issue of excessive bail.
The District Court had set bail at the fixed amount of $50,000 for each of the petitioners. This was an amount greater than that used with other serious crimes. The defendants moved to reduce bail, claiming that is was “excessive” under the Eighth Amendment. The defendants were detained in the custody of appellee, United States Marshal James J. Boyle.
. Upon their arrest and on motion of the government to increase bail in the case of other petitioners, bail was fixed in the District Court for the Southern District of California at $50,000 for each person. The petitioners then moved to reduce bail under the Eight Amendment, claiming that it was excessive. In support of their motion, petitioners submitted statements as to their financial resources, family relationships, health, prior criminal records, and other information. The only evidence offered by the government was a record showing that four persons previously convicted under the Smith Act
in the Southern District of New York had forfeited bail. Their request was denied. The petitioners then filed the same issue under habeas corpus
in the same 9th District Court, whereupon their petition was further dismissed. Finally, a request for certiorari
was filed with the Supreme Court of the United States and granted.
In the 1950s the United States experienced what is known as the Second Red Scare which lasted roughly from the late 1940s to the late 1950s, during the height of the Cold War
between the United States and the Soviet Union
. During this period, the Wisconsin
Senator Joseph McCarthy led anti—communist investigations which included making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason; thousands of citizens were accused of being Communists or Communist sympathizers and became the subject of unlawful investigations and questioning before government or private-industry panels, committees and agencies. Most of these accusations were unfounded and had very little evidence to support them. Nonetheless, hundreds of people lost their jobs and/or destruction of their careers; some even suffered imprisonment and other violations of civil liberties. The Smith Act
, also known as the Alien Registration Act was a 1940 act that set criminal penalties for “advocating the overthrow of the U.S. government” and required all non-citizen adult residents to register with the government.
, she worked as a waitress and bookkeeper. Stack was the party organizational secretary of the local Communist Party and was accused of inciting women to take up arms in support of Socialism. During the case hearing a witness testified that Stack learned to use a bayonet
and won shooting prizes in Russia in 1932. After the Supreme Court ruling she left the Communist Party. In her later years she fought to improve bus service and organized a cooperative housing project.
, "I think that a lot of people were silenced, and their withdrawal from social commitment extended long afterward."
and later the Communist Party. She was appointed a deputy labor commissioner by Governor Culbert Olson
in 1940 and served as the Chairman of the Los Angeles Communist Party (1945). In 1952, she was arrested under the Smith Act. She appeared on college campuses in support of the antiwar movement in the 1960s, and in 1969, she openly opposed the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1969; she effectively removed herself from the Communist Party because of this. Following her formal resignation in 1973, she became active in the New American Movement
and the Democratic Socialists of America
.
in 1913. Chernin became executive secretary of the Committee for the Protection of the Foreign Born, which she founded in 1950. By 1957, the Supreme Court heard Yates v. United States
, in which Rose Chernin was named. In a landmark decision, Chernin’s earlier conviction was overturned, which ruled the Smith Act unconstitutional.
?
The U.S. Supreme Court found "that a defendant's bail cannot be set higher than an amount that is reasonably likely to ensure the defendant's presence at the trial.” It was determined that the $50,000 bail was excessive, given the lack of financial resources of the defendants and a lack of evidence that they were likely to flee before trial. Under the direction of Chief Justice Vinson, who delivered the opinion of the court, it was found that bail had “not been fixed by proper methods in this case.”
Chief Justice Vinson summed up the Constitutional issue by stating: “It is not denied that bail for each petitioner has been fixed in a sum much higher than that usually imposed for offenses with like penalties and yet there has been no factual showing to justify such action in this case...Such conduct would inject into our own system of government the very principles of totalitarianism which Congress was seeking to guard against in passing the statute under which petitioners have been indicted.”
Essentially, if a court sets an unusually high bail for multiple defendants, the court needs to have evidence regarding the situations of each defendant (whether they are considered a “flight risk”). Otherwise it is regarded as cruel and inhuman punishment according to the Eighth Amendment.
gave a speech on the importance of the act, giving examples of how the bail system had harmed people in the past. “A man spent two months in jail before being acquitted. In that period, he lost his job, he lost his car, he lost his family -- it was split up. He did not find another job, following that, for four months.” The next major revision to U.S. bail law came with the Bail Reform Act of 1984, which replaced its 1966 predecessor. The 1966 Bail Reform Act had helped stop discrimination against the poor, but unfortunately left loopholes open that let many dangerous people receive bail as long as they did not appear to be flight risks. This new reform act allowed for defendants to be held until trial if they’re judged dangerous to the community.
Smith Act
The Alien Registration Act or Smith Act of 1940 is a United States federal statute that set criminal penalties for advocating the overthrow of the U.S...
. The case regards the Eighth Amendment
Eighth Amendment
Eighth Amendment may refer to:*Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution, part of the United States Bill of Rights*Eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland, which bans termination of pregnancy in the Republic of Ireland...
issue of excessive bail.
The District Court had set bail at the fixed amount of $50,000 for each of the petitioners. This was an amount greater than that used with other serious crimes. The defendants moved to reduce bail, claiming that is was “excessive” under the Eighth Amendment. The defendants were detained in the custody of appellee, United States Marshal James J. Boyle.
Overview
In 1951, 12 members of the Communist Party were arrested in the Southern District of CaliforniaCalifornia
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. Upon their arrest and on motion of the government to increase bail in the case of other petitioners, bail was fixed in the District Court for the Southern District of California at $50,000 for each person. The petitioners then moved to reduce bail under the Eight Amendment, claiming that it was excessive. In support of their motion, petitioners submitted statements as to their financial resources, family relationships, health, prior criminal records, and other information. The only evidence offered by the government was a record showing that four persons previously convicted under the Smith Act
Smith Act
The Alien Registration Act or Smith Act of 1940 is a United States federal statute that set criminal penalties for advocating the overthrow of the U.S...
in the Southern District of New York had forfeited bail. Their request was denied. The petitioners then filed the same issue under habeas corpus
Habeas corpus
is a writ, or legal action, through which a prisoner can be released from unlawful detention. The remedy can be sought by the prisoner or by another person coming to his aid. Habeas corpus originated in the English legal system, but it is now available in many nations...
in the same 9th District Court, whereupon their petition was further dismissed. Finally, a request for certiorari
Certiorari
Certiorari is a type of writ seeking judicial review, recognized in U.S., Roman, English, Philippine, and other law. Certiorari is the present passive infinitive of the Latin certiorare...
was filed with the Supreme Court of the United States and granted.
Historical Context
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
between the United States and the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. During this period, the Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
Senator Joseph McCarthy led anti—communist investigations which included making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason; thousands of citizens were accused of being Communists or Communist sympathizers and became the subject of unlawful investigations and questioning before government or private-industry panels, committees and agencies. Most of these accusations were unfounded and had very little evidence to support them. Nonetheless, hundreds of people lost their jobs and/or destruction of their careers; some even suffered imprisonment and other violations of civil liberties. The Smith Act
Smith Act
The Alien Registration Act or Smith Act of 1940 is a United States federal statute that set criminal penalties for advocating the overthrow of the U.S...
, also known as the Alien Registration Act was a 1940 act that set criminal penalties for “advocating the overthrow of the U.S. government” and required all non-citizen adult residents to register with the government.
Loretta Starvus Stack
A Connecticut native who moved to San Francisco after World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, she worked as a waitress and bookkeeper. Stack was the party organizational secretary of the local Communist Party and was accused of inciting women to take up arms in support of Socialism. During the case hearing a witness testified that Stack learned to use a bayonet
Bayonet
A bayonet is a knife, dagger, sword, or spike-shaped weapon designed to fit in, on, over or underneath the muzzle of a rifle, musket or similar weapon, effectively turning the gun into a spear...
and won shooting prizes in Russia in 1932. After the Supreme Court ruling she left the Communist Party. In her later years she fought to improve bus service and organized a cooperative housing project.
Al Richmond
Richmond helped found The Daily People's World which was a leftist newspaper in San Francisco, and he served as its executive editor. Later, Richmond said of the anti-Communist campaign of Senator Joseph McCarthyJoseph McCarthy
Joseph Raymond "Joe" McCarthy was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957...
, "I think that a lot of people were silenced, and their withdrawal from social commitment extended long afterward."
Dorothy Healey
Healey began as a member of the Young Communist LeagueYoung Communist League
The Young Communist League was or is the name used by the youth wing of various Communist parties around the world. The name YCL of XXX was generally taken by all sections of the Communist Youth International.Examples of YCLs:...
and later the Communist Party. She was appointed a deputy labor commissioner by Governor Culbert Olson
Culbert Olson
Culbert Levy Olson was an American lawyer and politician. A Democrat, Olson was involved in Utah and California politics and was elected as the 29th Governor of California from 1939 to 1943.-Personal background:...
in 1940 and served as the Chairman of the Los Angeles Communist Party (1945). In 1952, she was arrested under the Smith Act. She appeared on college campuses in support of the antiwar movement in the 1960s, and in 1969, she openly opposed the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1969; she effectively removed herself from the Communist Party because of this. Following her formal resignation in 1973, she became active in the New American Movement
New American Movement
The New American Movement was founded in 1971 by a group of leaders of opposition to the Vietnam War to serve as a forum for discussing where and how to redirect their activities. The call to convene was issued by Michael Lerner...
and the Democratic Socialists of America
Democratic Socialists of America
Democratic Socialists of America is a social-democratic organization in the United States and the U.S. affiliate of the Socialist International, an international federation of social-democratic,democratic socialist and labor political parties and organizations.DSA was formed in 1982 by a merger of...
.
William Shneiderman
At age 16, Schneiderman joined the Young Communist League and later became the chairman of the Communist Party of California for a quarter of a century. Suffering from chronic heart trouble, he stepped down as chairman of the California Communist Party in 1964. In 1982, Schneiderman wrote his autobiography, Dissent on Trial, chronicling his struggles as a life-long political activist.Rose Chernin Kusnitz
Rochele Chernin was born in 1901 in Chasnik, Russia. She was renamed Rose when she landed at Ellis IslandEllis Island
Ellis Island in New York Harbor was the gateway for millions of immigrants to the United States. It was the nation's busiest immigrant inspection station from 1892 until 1954. The island was greatly expanded with landfill between 1892 and 1934. Before that, the much smaller original island was the...
in 1913. Chernin became executive secretary of the Committee for the Protection of the Foreign Born, which she founded in 1950. By 1957, the Supreme Court heard Yates v. United States
Yates v. United States
Yates v. United States, 354 U.S. 298 , was a case decided by the Supreme Court of the United States involving free speech and congressional power...
, in which Rose Chernin was named. In a landmark decision, Chernin’s earlier conviction was overturned, which ruled the Smith Act unconstitutional.
Albert J. Lima
California leader of the Communist Party. He spoke at the University of California at Berkeley in 1963, ending the school's 13-year ban on Communist speakers. He ran unsuccessfully twice as a Communist candidate for the House of Representatives.Other defendants
Philip Marshall Connelly, Ernest Otto Fox, Carl Rude Lambert, Henry Steinberg, Oleta O'Connor Yates, and Mary Bernadette Doyle, for which no information is available.Issue
When bail for multiple defendants is set at a higher amount than usual, is this a violation of the Eighth AmendmentEighth Amendment
Eighth Amendment may refer to:*Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution, part of the United States Bill of Rights*Eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland, which bans termination of pregnancy in the Republic of Ireland...
?
Court Ruling
Chief Justice Vinson summed up the Constitutional issue by stating: “It is not denied that bail for each petitioner has been fixed in a sum much higher than that usually imposed for offenses with like penalties and yet there has been no factual showing to justify such action in this case...Such conduct would inject into our own system of government the very principles of totalitarianism which Congress was seeking to guard against in passing the statute under which petitioners have been indicted.”
Essentially, if a court sets an unusually high bail for multiple defendants, the court needs to have evidence regarding the situations of each defendant (whether they are considered a “flight risk”). Otherwise it is regarded as cruel and inhuman punishment according to the Eighth Amendment.
Significance
Bail law in the United States remained mostly unchanged until 1966. In 1966, the U.S. Congress passed the Bail Reform Act, which was designed to allow for the release of defendants with as little a financial strain as possible. President Lyndon B. JohnsonLyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
gave a speech on the importance of the act, giving examples of how the bail system had harmed people in the past. “A man spent two months in jail before being acquitted. In that period, he lost his job, he lost his car, he lost his family -- it was split up. He did not find another job, following that, for four months.” The next major revision to U.S. bail law came with the Bail Reform Act of 1984, which replaced its 1966 predecessor. The 1966 Bail Reform Act had helped stop discrimination against the poor, but unfortunately left loopholes open that let many dangerous people receive bail as long as they did not appear to be flight risks. This new reform act allowed for defendants to be held until trial if they’re judged dangerous to the community.
External links
- http://supreme.justia.com/us/342/1/ U.S Supreme Court Center
- http://www.casebriefs.com/blog/law/criminal-procedure/criminal-procedure-keyed-to-israel/pretrial-release/stack-v-boyle/ Case Briefs: Stack v. Boyle
- http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=342&invol=1 Find Law: For Legal Professionals.
- http://web.utk.edu/~scheb/decisions/Stack.htm Mr. Chief Justice Vinson delivered the opinion of the Court.