Berger v. United States

Berger v. United States 255 U.S. 22 (1921) was a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States overruling a trial court decision by U.S. District Court Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis against Rep. Victor L. Berger, a socialist leader and Congressman, and several other German-American defendants who were convicted of violating the Espionage Act by publicizing anti-interventionist views during World War I. The Supreme Court held that Judge Landis was properly disqualified as trial judge based on an affidavit filed by the German defendants asserting that Judge Landis' public anti-German statements should disqualify him from presiding over the trial of the defendants.[1] The Berger test states that to disqualify a judge, 1) an affidavit must be filed asserting a bias by the judge, and 2) "the claim of bias is based on facts antedating the trial."[2] The case was argued on December 9, 1920 and decided on January 31, 1921 with an opinion by Justice Joseph McKenna and dissents by Justices William R. Day, James Clark McReynolds, and Mahlon Pitney.[3]

The House of Representatives twice denied Berger his seat in the House due to his original conviction for espionage using Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution regarding denying office to those who supported "insurrection or rebellion."[4] The Supreme Court overturned the verdict in 1921 in Berger v. U.S., and Berger won three successive terms in the House in the 1920s.[5]