We the People: Dissenting speech v. national security claims

The question of governmental authority to punish speech in the name of national security came before the Supreme Court for the first time in 1919 in Schenck v. United States, resulting in the court’s first major ruling on the scope of freedom of speech. Schenck involved criticism of America’s entry into the First World War and confronted Americans with a dilemma: Does the Free Speech Clause...