Please Join USDCHS and the FBA for a Practical Skills CLE on June 8

In addition to the practical skills component, this CLE will explore the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in DeJonge v. Oregon, which addressed the state’s criminal syndicalism law.  On July 27, 1934, the Portland Police “Red Squad” raided a peaceful meeting sponsored by the local Communist Party held at First and Morrison in Portland.  The police arrested Dirk De Jonge, a World War I veteran, longshoreman, former Portland mayoral candidate, and Portland communist. The State charged De Jonge with violating Oregon’s criminal syndicalism statute by speaking in support of the Communist Party at the meeting, which was called in response to a police crackdown on striking longshoremen.  The strike had shut down every West Coast port from southern California to northern Washington.  A Multnomah County jury found him guilty after a month-long trial, and the court sentenced him to seven years in prison. The Oregon Supreme Court affirmed the conviction 5-2.  With the assistance of his counsel, including then-private attorney Gus Solomon, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed.  Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes, speaking for a unanimous Court, held that Oregon’s criminal syndicalism statute unconstitutionally infringed upon De Jonge’s right to assembly as protected by the First Amendment.