Schenck v. USA (1919)
Charles Schenck was an important socialist figure at the beginning of the 20th century. The socialists were on principle opposed to the war that they saw as nothing but a capitalist battle for commercial supremacy. to that end, Schenck provided thousands of inflammatory leaflets to soldiers being deployed in combat. Schenck was arrested under the Espionage Act of 1917 which had been expanded with the Sedition Act of 1918. He appealed to the Supreme Court on the grounds that the Sedition act violated the first amendment rights of free speech, but the court, under Oliver Wendell Holmes, ruled against him on the grounds that free speech ends when it constitutes a "clear and present danger" to others or to the nation. Schenck's attempt to protest the draft fell into the category of threatening national security, and so his first amendment rights did not protect him. In essence, the case was one of the first precedents for limiting first amendment rights.
Charles Schenck was an important socialist figure at the beginning of the 20th century. The socialists were on principle opposed to the war that they saw as nothing but a capitalist battle for commercial supremacy. to that end, Schenck provided thousands of inflammatory leaflets to soldiers being deployed in combat. Schenck was arrested under the Espionage Act of 1917 which had been expanded with the Sedition Act of 1918. He appealed to the Supreme Court on the grounds that the Sedition act violated the first amendment rights of free speech, but the court, under Oliver Wendell Holmes, ruled against him on the grounds that free speech ends when it constitutes a "clear and present danger" to others or to the nation. Schenck's attempt to protest the draft fell into the category of threatening national security, and so his first amendment rights did not protect him. In essence, the case was one of the first precedents for limiting first amendment rights.