United States v. Enmons, 410 U.S. 396 (1973), was a controversial United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that violence, if carried out in furtherance of a labor union's objectives, does not violate the law according to the extortion and robbery provisions of the federal Anti-Racketeering Act of 1934 or the Hobbs Act.
The case involved a labor strike in which union members fired rifles at three utility company transformers, drained the oil from another, and blew up an entire company substation. The labor union in question was seeking a higher-pay contract and other benefits from their employer, the Gulf States Utilities Company. The Court decided that the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) was immune from prosecution because their violent acts were in pursuit of a legitimate union objective.
Read more about United States V. Enmons: Contents, Details of The Case, Controversy, See Also, External Links
Famous quotes containing the words united states, united and/or states:
“Scarcely any political question arises in the United States that is not resolved, sooner or later, into a judicial question.”
—Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–1859)
“The rising power of the United States in world affairs ... requires, not a more compliant press, but a relentless barrage of facts and criticism.... Our job in this age, as I see it, is not to serve as cheerleaders for our side in the present world struggle but to help the largest possible number of people to see the realities of the changing and convulsive world in which American policy must operate.”
—James Reston (b. 1909)
“On September 16, 1985, when the Commerce Department announced that the United States had become a debtor nation, the American Empire died.”
—Gore Vidal (b. 1925)