| Litigants: | Wilkinson v. United States |
| Arguedate: | November 17 |
| Argueyear: | 1960 |
| Decidedate: | February 27 |
| Decideyear: | 1961 |
| Fullname: | Frank Wilkinson v. United States |
| Usvol: | 365 |
| Uspage: | 399 |
| Parallelcitations: | 81 S. Ct. 567; 5 L. Ed. 2d 633 |
| Majority: | Stewart |
| Joinmajority: | Frankfurter, Clark, Harlan, Whittaker |
| Dissent: | Black |
| Joindissent: | Warren, Douglas |
| Dissent2: | Douglas |
| Joindissent2: | Warren, Black |
| Dissent3: | Brennan |
| Joindissent3: | Douglas |
Wilkinson v. United States, 365 U.S. 399 (1961), was a court case during the McCarthy Era in which the petitioner, Frank Wilkinson, an administrator with the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles, challenged his conviction under 2 U.S.C. § 192,[1] which makes it a misdemeanor to refuse to answer any question pertinent to the question under inquiry for any person summoned as a witness by Congress. The petitioner's conviction was sustained in a 5–4 ruling, upholding a prior ruling in Barenblatt v. United States.
The petitioner was indeed summoned to testify before a Subcommittee of the House of Representatives' Un-American Activities Committee, which was investigating alleged Communist infiltration into basic industries and Communist Party propaganda activities. The petitioner refused to answer a question as to whether he was a member of the Communist Party, contending that the Subcommittee lacked legal authority to interrogate him and that its questioning violated his First Amendment rights. He was convicted of a misdemeanor violation of 2 U.S.C. § 192.[1] The Court also, on February 27, 1961, denied Braden v. United States, a companion case appealing a similar 2 U.S.C. § 192 conviction.
The underlying activities of the FBI and government agencies later resulted in a case, Wilkinson v. FBI,[2] in which it was revealed that the FBI believed the witness that provided the assertion of Wilkinson's association with the Communist Party was "unreliable and emotionally unstable."[3]