Home > Great American Court Cases > Abrams v. United States

Legal Citation: 250 U.S. 616 (1919)

Appellants
Jacob Abrams, Mollie Steimer, Hyman Lachowsky, Samuel Lipman

Appellee
United States

Appellants' Claim
That they were not legally convicted of conspiracy to violate the Espionage Act of 1917.

Chief Lawyer for Appellants
Harry Weinberger

Chief Lawyer for Appellee
Robert T. Stewart

Justices for the Court
John Hessin Clarke (writing for the Court), William Rufus Day, Charles Evans Hughes, Joseph McKenna, James Clark McReynolds, Willis Van Devanter, Edward Douglass White

Justices Dissenting
Louis D. Brandeis, Oliver Wendell Holmes

Place
Washington, D.C.

Date of Decision
10 November 1919

Decision
Upheld the conviction and the Espionage Act as constitutional.

Significance
In his dissent, Holmes...