Past And Present

On Nov. 10, 1919, the U.S. Supreme Court decided its second First Amendment case in two weeks. In Abrams v. U.S., the federal government asked the court to uphold the 1918 Amendment to Espionage Act of 1917, better known as the Sedition Act, which made it a criminal offense to suggest ending war-time production. In a 7-2 decision, the court upheld the Sedition Act, applied the two-week-old "clear and present danger" doctrine, and ignited a conversation on the limitations of free speech that extended through the rest of the 20th century. Within the clear and present danger doctrine, however, the federal government must prove intent. A year earlier, in August 1918, the New York City police arrested Hyman Rosansky for throwing leaflets out of a building in lower Manhattan. The leaflets, written in English and Yiddish, were critical of President Woodrow Wilson’s support of the Russian government during the Russian Revolution. With Rosansky’s help, the police arrested six alleged co