under the Espionage Act, 1917, which the Supreme Court of United States refused to review.
42. During the Cold War, the attention of the American Congress was on the increase of communism. In 1954, Congress even enacted the Communist Control Act, which stripped the Communist party of all rights, privileges and immunities. During this time, Dennis v. United States, 341 US 494 (1951), is an important precedent. Sections 2(a)(1), 2(a)(3) and 3 of the Alien Registration Act, 1940 made it unlawful for any person to knowingly or wilfully advocate with the intent of the overthrowing or destroying the Government of the United States by force or violence, to organize or help to organize any group which does so, or to conspire to do so. The Petitioner in the aforementioned case challenged the aforesaid provision on the ground that these provisions violated the First Amendment. The US Supreme Court held:
"An analysis of the leading cases in this Court which have involved direct limitations on speech, however, will demonstrate that both the majority of the Court and the dissenters in particular cases have recognized that this is not an unlimited, unqualified right, but that the societal value of speech must, on occasion, be subordinated to other values and considerations."
