ABSTRACT
In a five–four decision in Beauharnais v. Illinois (1952), the US Supreme Court upheld a conviction under an Illinois statute criminalizing group libel, despite the defendant's claims that his speech was protected under the First Amendment. Joseph Beauharnais was arrested in 1950 for publishing and distributing a pamphlet calling on white citizens to petition the mayor and city council of Chicago against racial integration. Justice Hugo L. Black reminded the Court that Beauharnais's defamatory utterance was in the form of a petition for government policy changes. The Supreme Court has never formally overturned Beauharnais, but it is highly questionable whether the case may be considered good law. Without extensive elaboration, Justice Felix Frankfurter stated that any utterance that the state could hold criminally libelous when directed at an individual could also be prohibited when directed at well-defined groups within society.
