Dennis v. United States was a decision that affirmed the authority of the U.S. government to use prior restraint against dissidents. The case was argued on December 4, 1950, and the Court’s decision was announced on June 4, 1951. Eugene Dennis and ten other members of the U.S. Communist Party had been arrested for plotting to overthrow the U.S. government. The accused claimed their actions were protected by the First Amendment. The defendants had been charged under the 1940 Smith Act, which had been passed on the eve of the U.S. entry into World War II (1941) to be used against subversives who might support the Nazis or other potential U.S. enemies. The case was heard at the beginning of the Cold War, when the United States was in the midst of the Korean War (1950–53) and a concurrent wave of anti-communism.