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The Judicial Process: A Chronology

July 17, 1950
Julius Rosenberg was arrested in New York City by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on suspicion of having conspired to commit espionage.

August 11, 1950
Immediately after testifying before a federal grand jury in New York City, Ethel Rosenberg was arrested by the FBI on suspicion of having conspired to commit espionage.

August 18, 1950
Morton Sobell, suspected of conspiring with the Rosenbergs to commit espionage, was arrested by the FBI in Laredo, Texas, and subsequently brought back to New York City.

January 31, 1951
The federal grand jury for the Southern District of New York issued its third and final indictment (the first two having been issued in August and October 1950), charging Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, Morton Sobell, David Greenglass, and Anatoli Yakovlev with conspiracy to commit espionage during wartime on behalf of the Soviet Union in violation of the Espionage Act of 1917.

February 2, 1951
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg and Morton Sobell pleaded not guilty, while David Greenglass pleaded guilty. Anatoli Yakovlev was no longer in the United States.

March 6, 1951
The trial of Julius Rosenberg, Ethel Rosenberg, and Morton Sobell began in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York before Judge Irving R. Kaufman.

March 29, 1951
The jury found all three defendants guilty of conspiracy to commit espionage for the Soviet Union.

April 5, 1951
Judge Kaufman sentenced Julius and Ethel Rosenberg to death and Morton Sobell to thirty years in prison.

April 6, 1951
Judge Kaufman sentenced David Greenglass to fifteen years in prison.

February 25, 1952
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the Rosenbergs’ convictions.

October 13, 1952
The Supreme Court declined to hear the case, denying the Rosenbergs’ petition for certiorari.

December 10, 1952
Judge Sylvester Ryan of the district court denied the Rosenbergs’ motion that their sentences be overturned.

December 31, 1952
The court of appeals affirmed Judge Ryan’s December 10 decision declining to overturn the Rosenbergs’ sentences.

January 2, 1953
Judge Kaufman denied the Rosenbergs’ motion that their sentences be reduced from death to imprisonment.

February 11, 1953
President Dwight Eisenhower denied the Rosenbergs’ petition for executive clemency.

May 25, 1953
The Supreme Court again denied the Rosenbergs’ petition for certiorari.

June 1, 1953
Judge Kaufman denied the Rosenbergs’ motion to reduce their sentences from death to twenty years’ imprisonment.

June 2, 1953
The court of appeals denied the Rosenbergs’ request that it order Judge Kaufman to resentence them to twenty years’ imprisonment.

June 5, 1953
The court of appeals affirmed Judge Kaufman’s June 1 refusal to reduce the Rosenbergs’ sentences.

June 8, 1953
Judge Kaufman denied the Rosenbergs’ motion for a new trial.

June 11, 1953
The court of appeals affirmed Judge Kaufman’s June 8 decision denying a new trial.

June 15, 1953
The Supreme Court denied the Rosenbergs’ petition for rehearing, their petition for a stay of execution, which had been presented to Justice Robert Jackson, and their petition for a writ of habeas corpus.

June 17, 1953
Supreme Court Justice William Douglas granted the Rosenbergs a stay of execution.

June 19, 1953
The Supreme Court lifted the stay of execution issued by Justice Douglas. After Judge Kaufman denied a further stay of execution and President Eisenhower rejected a final appeal for clemency, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were put to death.