LAD#30: Schenck vs. US

On March 3rd in 1919, Charles Schenck filed a case against the United States of America. The trial was based upon the content of mail shipped by the socialist party in the late second decade of the twentieth century. They claimed that this went against the espionage act of 1917. The chief justice claimed that the defendant was trying to cause the insubordination of the United States armed forces during the Great War. Schenck was a secretary of the socialist party and he sent out over fifteen thousand pamphlets that encouraged young men to dodge the drafting process. The judge ruled against the defendant. The defendant did not have the right to express freedom of speech against the draft. This case established the "clear and present danger" test which lasted until 1969.