The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5 to 4 decision, upheld yesterday an Illinois law outlawing race hatred literature. The high tribunal ruled that Illinois has the right to pass a “group libel” law prohibiting the publication, dissemination or display of any “lithograph, moving picture, play, drama, or sketch” that would expose citizens of any race, creed or color “to contempt, derision or obloquy.”
Justice Felix Frankfurter delivered the decision for himself and Chief Justice Fred M. Vinson and Justices Harold H. Burton, Tom C. Clark and Sherman Minton, while Justices Hugo L. Black, Stanely F. Reed, Robert H. Jackson and William O. Douglas wrote dissenting opinions.
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