Biography
Joe Stern was cited for contempt after refusing to answer questions before the Ohio Un-American Activities Commission. A state court convicted him and imposed ten days in jail and a $500 fine. When the consolidated cases reached the U.S. Supreme Court in 1959, the Court reversed the judgments against Richard Raley, Alice Brown, and Irving Morgan. Stern’s judgment was affirmed by an equally divided Court because Justice Potter Stewart did not participate. Available court records do not establish whether Stern served the ten-day jail term.
