 The federal appeals courts upheld all convictions of second @-@ tier officials , and the Supreme Court refused to hear their appeals until 1956 , when it agreed to hear the appeal of the California defendants ; this led to the landmark Yates v. United States decision . Fourteen second @-@ tier CPUSA officials from California who had been convicted of Smith Act violations appealed and on June 17 , 1957 , " Red Monday " , the Supreme Court reversed their convictions . By the time the Court ruled 6 – 1 in Yates v. United States , four of the Supreme Court Justices that supported the 1951 Dennis decision had been replaced , including Chief Justice Vinson , who was replaced by Chief Justice Earl Warren . 
