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In the Matter of the Application of Margaret Roy, for a writ of habeas corpus

January 24, 1919 - March 3, 1919

Petitioned on January 27, 1919

Filed before the US District Court for the Western District of Washington (Seattle, Washington)

Case ID: hc.case.wa.0203

Case Summary

Margaret Roy, a subject of Scotland, and her attorney, Ralph S. Pierce, filed the petition to challenge her detainment for the purpose of deportation by the United States immigration office for "being an alien and believed to advocate the overthrow of government, [and who] disbelieved in and who opposed organized government". The primary claim for her release was that her detainment was due to a failure to provide her due process. She claimed that her fifth amendment rights were violated. Her claim referred to the answers she provided to an immigration hearing after her arrest in July 1918 (warrant issued June 24) where she admitted that she was a member of the IWW and believed “in mass action and organization,” but denied taking any actual actions. Further, her petition claimed that the evidence against her was based solely on IWW literature that was not actually in her possession at her arrest. Further still, she claimed that the government refused to even turn over the transcript of the hearing or the evidence they attached to it to enable her defence. The judge approved her writ and demanded that the US government appear to demonstrate its cause for holding her. In February 1919, the government did appear and provide the transcript of the hearing and the evidence against Roy. The judge ruled that her detainment was lawful and could continue. Presumably, she was deported afterward, but there is no evidence to be certain. In March 1919, the government of the United States requested that the previously introduced evidence of Roy's hearing and IWW literature be removed from the case file and letters signed by Roy's lawyer agree to that removal.

Case Information

Petition type(s)

  • Carceral

Petition subtype(s)

  • Immigration

Sites of significance

Outcome

Writ denied

Fate of bound party

Remained in custody

Case Citation

RG21 US District Courts, Western District of Washington, Seattle, Records of the Northern Division, Case Files, 1890-1972, No. 4516

Source material(s)

Case File

Case document transcriptions

Length of case file

Between 21 and 30 pages

Related petitions

Repository(s)

State

  • Washington

Point(s) of law cited

U.S. Const. art. I, § 8.|U.S. Const. amend. V.

Tag(s)

  • Socialist
  • I.w.w
  • Anarchist

People

Citation

Katrina Jagodinsky, Cory Young, Andrew Varsanyi, Laura Weakly, Karin Dalziel, William Dewey, Erin Chambers, Greg Tunink. “In the Matter of the Application of Margaret Roy, for a writ of habeas corpus.” Petitioning for Freedom: Habeas Corpus in the American West, 1812-1924, University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Accessed November 22, 2024. https://petitioningforfreedom.unl.edu/cases/item/hc.case.wa.0203

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