LAD/Blog #31: Schenck v. United States

During the Great War Charles Schenck and Elizabeth Baer thought that the draft violated the thirteenth amendment and they distributed pamphlets that declared their views. The pamphlets said that people should resist the draft peacefully. Schenck was accused of violating the Espionage Act by obstructing recruitment. Both Schenck and Baer were convicted of violating the Espionage Act and later tried appealing this ruling on the grounds of the first amendment.
According to Oliver Wendell Holmes, the "clear and present danger test", he said the first amendment regarding freedom of speech is not protected as it approaches creating a clear and present danger of an evil that Congress can protect. He also compared their handing out of pamphlets to a person yelling "fire" in a public place, which is not permitted under the first amendment.

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Both Schenck v US and Brown v Board of Education were landmark supreme court cases in which the power of the supreme court was tested and the extent to which the court held power.

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