LAD #30: Schenck vs. US

Schneck vs. the United States on March 23rd in 1919 was a  case which backed the Espionage Act of 1917. The Espionage Act denied any interference or involvemnet in military plans and operations. Despite the protection of freedom of speech by the first amendment, Schenck’s distribution of printed documents posed a grave threat therefore leading Congress using their right to cease his actions. Schenck’s messages were: “"Do not submit to intimidation” and to “Assert your rights”. His passionate and intense document was to prevent the draft. “It denied the power to send our citizens away to foreign shores to shoot up the people of other lands, and added that words could not express the condemnation such cold-blooded ruthlessness deserves”. This was the "clear and present danger" , which consisted of information about the draft and many arguements fighting it. In many cases, the context of the words in which one speaks and the nature they were spoken in are the leading determinant in if the Congress has a clear path to defend. For example,“The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theatre and causing a panic. It does not even protect a man from an injunction against uttering words that may have all the effect of force.” Schenck simply commited a crime that was an obstruction of the recruiting services.  In the Schneck vs. the United States, Schenck was found guilty and was sent to jail for six months. He had appealed to the Supreme Court because he felt his right to freedom of speech had been violated.