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During World War I, socialists Charles Schenck and Elizabeth Baer distributed leaflets declaring that the draft violated the Thirteenth Amendment prohibition against involuntary servitude. The leaflets urged the public to disobey the draft, but advised only peaceful action.
Schenck v. United States, 249 U.S. 47 (1919), was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court concerning enforcement of the Espionage Act of 1917 during World War I.
Schenck v. United States, legal case in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on March 3, 1919, that freedom of speech could be restricted if the words spoken or printed ‘create a clear and present danger that they will bring about the substantive evils which Congress has a right to prevent.’
Schenck v. United States: If speech is intended to result in a crime, and there is a clear and present danger that it actually will result in a crime, the First Amendment does not protect the speaker from government action.
In Schenck v. United States, Charles Schenck was charged under the Espionage Act for mailing printed circulars critical of the military draft. Writing for a unanimous Court, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes upheld Schenck’s conviction and ruled that the Espionage Act did not conflict with the First Amendment.
Schenck v. United States is a U.S. Supreme Court decision finding the Espionage Act of 1917 constitutional. The Court ruled that freedom of speech and freedom of the press under the First Amendment could be limited only if the words in the circumstances created "a clear and present danger."
In the landmark Schenck v. United States, 249 U.S. 47 (1919), the Supreme Court affirmed the conviction of Charles Schenck and Elizabeth Baer for violating the Espionage Act of 1917 through actions that obstructed the “recruiting or enlistment service” during World War I.
Soon after the United States entered the war, Charles T. Schenck, a prominent member of the Socialist Party was arrested for mailing out 15,000 flyers encouraging draft-age men to sign petitions and actively engage against the military draft by raising their voices to Congress and the president.
In Schenck v. United States, the Supreme Court addressed the limits of free speech during wartime. Charles Schenck was a leader of the socialist party in Philadelphia during World War I. He printed pamphlets encouraging resistance to the military draft. He then mailed them to draftees. The government convicted Schenck of Espionage Act violations.
The main purpose of the act was criminalizing interference with the United States army and naval forces; this included interfering with army recruitment, submitting false reports or information to the army, advocating for refusal of duty in the armed forces, aiding enemy forces, and more.