First Amendment Library

Abrams v. United States (docket #: 316) (1919) [Findlaw]
Secondary Link	Abrams v. United States [Legal Information Institute]
Argument Date	10/21/1919
Decided	11/10/1919
Supreme Court Vote	7-2
Note	After the Abrams case was decided, the noted First Amendment scholar Zechariah Chafee petitioned President Wilson to pardon the defendants.
Supreme Court Ruling	First Amendment claim denied.

Issue	Whether certain provisions of the Sedition Act of 1918 concerning speech critical of the government and subversive of the war effort violated the First Amendment.

Case Summary & Additional Resources

Majority Opinion

Clarke, J.

Dissenting Opinion

Holmes, J. (joined by Brandeis, J.)

Lower Court Ruling

First Amendment claim denied

Lawyers

For Petitioner

Harry Weinberger

For Respondent

Assistant Attorney General Robert P. Stewart, for the United States

Briefs

For Petitioner

Harry Weinberger, Brief for Petitioners [curiae.yale.edu]

For Respondent

Robert P. Stewart, Brief for the United States [curiae.yale.edu]

News

" Upholds Sentences of Russian "Reds'; Supreme Court Decides Against Four Who Threw Pamphlets From Rooftops," New York Times, November 11, 1919, p. 2

"Reds to Be Deported: Palmer Speeds Cases to Drive Out 391 Caught in Raids," Washington Post, November 11, 1919, p. 1

Other

Blasi, Vincent, "Holmes & the Marketplace of Ideas," 2004 Supreme Court Review 1

Blasi, Vincent, "Reading Holmes Throught the Lens of Schauer: The Abrams Dissent," 72 Notre Dame Law Review 1343 (1997)

Bollinger, Lee, THE TOLERANT SOCIETY (1986), pp. 15-23, 59-60, 159-161

Chafee, Jr., Zechariah, FREE SPEECH IN THE UNITED STATES (1941)

Cole, David, "Agon at Agora: Creative Misreadings in the First Amendment Tradition," 95 Yale L.J. 857, 875-892 (1986)

Collins, Ronald & Skover, David, "What is War? -- Free Speech in Wartime," 36 Rutgers Law Journal (No. 3, 2005)

Emerson, Thomas, THE SYSTEM OF FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION (1970), pp. 65-66

Geoffrey R. Stone, Perilous Times: Free Speech in Wartime (Norton, 2004)

Greenawalt, Kent, "’Clear & Present Danger’ in Criminal Speech," in Bollinger, Lee & Stone, Geoffrey, ETERNALLY VIGILANT: FREE SPEECH IN A MODERN ERA (2002), pp. 96-119

Gunther, Gerald, "Learned Hand & the Origins of Modern First Amendment Doctrine," 27 Stanford Law Review 719 (1975)

Meiklejohn, Alexander, POLITICAL FREEDOM (1960)

Peck, Robert, "Overview: The First Amendment & Advocacy of Violence"

Pohlman, H.L., JUSTICE OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES: FREE SPEECH & THE LIVING CONSTITUTION (1991), pp. 77-82

Polenberg, Richard, FIGHTING FAITHS: THE ABRAMS CASE, THE SUPREME COURT, AND FREE SPEECH (Viking Press, 1987)

Rabban, David, FREE SPEECH IN ITS FORGOTTEN YEARS (1997), pp. 7, 8, 329-330, 342-343, 346-355

Schwartz, Bernard, "Holmes versus Hand: Clear & Present Danger or Advocacy of Unlawful Action?," 1994 Supreme Court Review 209

Sheldon M. Novick, "The Unrevised Holmes & Freedom of Expression," 1991 Supreme Court Review 303

Smith, Stephen A., "Shenck v. U.S. & Abrams v. U.S." in FREE SPEECH ON TRIAL (2003), Richard A. Parker, ed., pp. 20-35

Smolla, Rodney, "Overview: Freedom of Speech"

Smolla, Rodney, SMOLLA & NIMMER ON FREEDOM OF SPEECH (1994), sect. 4.01[3][A]

The Montana Pardon Project