Schenck v. United States (1919)

FRQ Prompt

Clarence Brandenburg, a leader of the Ku Klux Klan, gave a televised speech advocating for "revenge" against the government and was convicted under an Ohio criminal syndicalism law. The law prohibited advocating the duty, necessity, or propriety of crime, sabotage, or violence. The Supreme Court overturned the conviction, holding that the government cannot punish inflammatory speech unless that speech is "directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or produce such action."