Sweezy v. New Hampshire
| Sweezy v. New Hampshire | |
|---|---|
| Argued March 5, 1957 Decided June 17, 1957 | |
| Full case name | Paul M. Sweezy v. State of New Hampshire by Louis C. Wyman, Attorney General |
| Citations | 354 U.S. 234 (more) 77 S. Ct. 1203, 1 L. Ed. 2d 1311, 1957 U.S. LEXIS 655 |
| Argument | Oral argument |
| Case history | |
| Prior | Sweezy convicted, Merrimack County Superior Court (1954); aff'd in Wyman v. Sweezy, 100 N.H. 103, 121 A. 2d 783, (N.H. 1956); review denied, (N.H. 1956); cert. granted, 352 U.S. 812 (1956). |
| Subsequent | Remanded to the New Hampshire Supreme Court; petition for rehearing denied, 355 U.S. 852 (1957). |
| Holding | |
| Due to the unknown government interest into Sweezy's lectures and the lack of legislative oversight of the investigation, appellant's conviction violated his right to due process. | |
| Court membership | |
| |
| Case opinions | |
| Plurality | Warren, joined by Black, Douglas, Brennan |
| Concurrence | Frankfurter, joined by Harlan |
| Dissent | Clark, joined by Burton |
| Whittaker took no part in the consideration or decision of the case. | |
| Laws applied | |
| U.S. Const. amend. I, XIV | |
English Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Sweezy v. New Hampshire, 354 U.S. 234 (1957), was a case before the United States Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that jailing an academic when he refused to answer questions about university lectures he had given was a violation of due process. On a larger scale, the decision established constitutional protections for academic freedom and reined in the investigative powers of state legislatures.