A State Sedition Law

A man who openly belonged to a communist party was prosecuted under a state sedition act for advocating the violent overthrow of the federal government. He was sentenced to twenty years in prison, a ten thousand dollar fine, and thirteen thousand dollars in prosecution costs. His answer was not that he had said nothing. He argued that the state had no power to punish sedition against the United States, because Congress had already legislated fully on that exact subject.