Roaring 20's court cases
Significant court cases that captured Americas eye
Red Scare
Many Americans were frightened by the Communist Revolution that had happened in Russia on October 1917. The American Socialist Party and the American Communist Party were established during this period. Some believed that a communist revolution was going to happen in America, and the immigrants in America were under suspicion of being, perhaps, involved in plotting a revolution. Industrial unrest happened in 1919 when 100,000 members of the Boston police force went on strike – the communists were blamed for this as well. Feelings of anger and animosity arose towards communists and many Americans believed that some of the events of 1919 and 1920 were linked to communism. In September 1920, a bomb exploded on Wall Street killing 38 people, and another bomb destroyed the front of the Attorney General, Mitchell Palmer's house.
Palmer Raids
Being a very important part of the Red Scare in the 1920's-30's, Palmer started a series of controversial "raids" that aroused the American public to hate communists, bolsheviks, socialists, and lead to a general xenophobia. This made America a very dangerous place for such people and was the death of the American Socialist Party, which had previously gained large numbers of votes from progressives and liberals. After the Red Scare, there was considerably less progressivism and fewer eastern european immigrants in the US. This alerted all of america.
Sacco & Vanzetti
Two immigrants named Sacco and Vanzetti made the public far more suspicious of the concept of italian anarchists. These men were labelled as anarchists and found guilty of murder. As a result, public opinion was turned against them and many other italians. Even the judge who tried their case referred to them with contempt as "italian anarchists."
Schenck vs. United States (1919)
Schenck vs. United States changed the interpretation of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution concerning freedom of speech during times of war, according to J Rank. The case established the “clear and present danger” rule which did not require desirable objectives to take place in order to be punishable by law.