Schenck v. United States

The court case of Schenck v. United States was one of the cases that set the stepping stone for the first amendment of freedom of speech. Charles Schenck was a socialist who distributed pamphlets declaring that the draft violated the 13th amendment prohibition against involuntary servitude. In these pamphlets they urged the public to disobey the draft and advised only peaceful action. Schenck was charged with conspiracy to violate the espionage act of 1917 by attempting to cause insubordination in the military and obstruct recruitment. On January 9,1919 the Supreme Court heard the arguments of both sides and Schenck's counsel argued that the Espionage Act was unconstitutional and that Schenck and others were simply exercising his freedom of speech that is guaranteed by the first amendment. The court gave a unanimous ruling upholding the Espionage Act and convicting Schenck. Although Schenck may have violated the Espionage Act I do feel as though his first amendment rights were snatched away from him. His agenda may not be up to par with all people but just because he's posting flyers telling people not to join the military he's invoking  his freedom of speech rights I mean yeah his flyers may cause some people to not join but there are still a lot of people out there who are willing to lay down their lives for this country and could care less about what a flyer wants them to do. The court thought that the Espionage Act did not violate the first amendment and was appropriate to exercise of Congress' wartime authority. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes concluded that the first amendment does not protect speech that approaches creating a clear and present danger of a significant evil that Congress has the power to prevent.


Sources:
https://www.oyez.org/cases/1900-1940/249us47
https://www.britannica.com/event/Schenck-v-United-States