Schenk v. United States (1919)

Mon Mar 03, 1919

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Schenck v. United States, decided on this day in 1919, was a Supreme Court case that upheld the conviction of socialist Charles Schenck for encouraging draft resistance, establishing the “clear and present” danger limitation of speech.

In this specific case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that encouraging would-be soldiers to resist the draft was not protected by the First Amendment.

The Court made this ruling unanimously, upholding socialist activist Charles Schenck’s conviction under the Espionage Act of 1917, after he distributed leaflets urging young men to resist the draft during World War I.