Abrams v. United States, 250 U.S. 616; 40 S. Ct. 17; 63 L. Ed. 1173 (1919)

Facts—Abrams and four other Russians were indicted for conspiring to violate the Espionage Act. They published two leaflets that denounced the efforts of capitalist nations to interfere with the Russian Revolution, criticized the president and the “plutocratic gang in Washington” for sending American troops to Russia, and urged workers producing munitions in the United States not to betray their Russian comrades.

Question—Does the Espionage Act violate the First Amendment?

Decision—No.

Reasons—J. Clarke (7–2). The Court reasoned that the plain purpose of their propaganda was to excite, at the supreme crisis of the war, disaffection, sedition, riots, and, as they hoped, revolution, in this country, for the purpose of embarrassing, and if possible defeating, the military plans of the government in Europe.

J. Holmes authored a stinging dissent in which he spoke of the value of “free trade in ideas—that the best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market. ”