A. Schenck v. United States was a case that would define the limits of the First Amendments right to free speech. Following the United States’ entrance into the first world war, the Espionage Act was passed. The goal of the act was to prohibit interference with recruiting and military operations and also the aiding of the enemy in wartime. Charles Schenck was against the war, so he helped to distribute leaflets to draftees disencouraging them to join the war. Schenck was then indicted for violating the Espionage Act. In the Supreme court, it was argued that his conviction had violated his First Amendment right. However, In a unanimous decision, the Court upheld Schencks conviction. The opinion written by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes said that the Supreme Court determined that Schenck had sabotaged the draft. He also said that in ordinary times this act of speech would be protected, a nation at war allowed for greater restrictions on free
speech. Justice Holmes then wrote, The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theatre and causing a panic & The question in every case is whether the words are used in such circumstances and are of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger that they will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent. (Epstein 342) Justice Holmess opinion constituted as the first and substantial explication of free speech. This opinion provided the court with the clear and present danger test. Framing these cases and setting a standard in which these future cases would be adjudicated. The question that would be asked in every case involving free speech would be whether the words used are used in such circumstances and are of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger that they will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent (343).