We the People: Holmes' Defense of Freedom Speech

Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes’ invention in 1919, of the Clear and Present Danger Test, in Schenck v. United States, provided little protection for dissenters who opposed America’s role in World War I.

Charles Schenck went to prison for encouraging draft resisters. A newspaper publisher was sentenced to prison for publishing anti-draft articles. Eugene Debs, the famous labor organizer, was sent to...