 Four years after the Yates decision , the Supreme Court reversed the conviction of another second @-@ tier CPUSA leader , John Francis Noto of New York , in the 1961 Noto v. United States case . Noto was convicted under the membership clause of the Smith Act , and he challenged the constitutionality of that clause on appeal . The membership clause was in the portion of the Smith Act that made it a crime " to organize or help to organize any society , group , or assembly of persons who teach , advocate , or encourage the overthrow or destruction of any government in the United States by force or violence ; or to be or become a member of , or affiliate with , any such society , group , or assembly of persons , knowing the purposes thereof ... " . In a unanimous decision , the court reversed the conviction because the evidence presented at trial was not sufficient to demonstrate that the Party was advocating action ( as opposed to mere doctrine ) of forcible overthrow of the government . On behalf of the majority , Justice Harlan wrote : 
