Schenck v. the United States is probably most remembered now for the oft-repeated and, fortunately, inaccurate claim that freedom of speech does not protect your right to yell “Fire!” in a crowded theater.
Oliver Wendell Holmes used that analogy in the 1919 decision that sent Schenck to jail for distributing anti-war pamphlets during World War I.
Holmes later changed his views and began dissenting in wartime prosecutions, and the Schenck precedent was partially overturned in 1969 in Brandenburg v. Ohio.
The pamphlet Schenck was prosecuted for distributing is below, and it is incredible to read it in 2022 and think that this was considered illegal to circulate in the United States at one time.
