LAD # 30 Schenck vs. U.S. Cases

On March 3rd, 1919, Schenk was declared guilty with the “mailing of printed circulars in pursuance of a conspiracy to obstruct the recruiting and enlistment service”, “an unlawful use of the mails for the transmission”, and for an “offence against the United States...to use the mails for the transmission of matter declared to be non-mailable”. Despite the protection of freedom of speech by the first amendment, Schenck’s distribution of printed documents posed a serious threat and danger so therefore Congress had the right to halt his activities. According to the testimony, Schenck was general secretary for the socialist party and he was in charge of the socialist headquarters from where the documents were sent. “The document in question upon its first printed side recited the first section of the Thirteenth Amendment, said that the idea embodied in it was violated by the Conscription Act and that a conscript is little better than a convict.” Schenck’s messages were: “"Do not submit to intimidation” and to “Assert your rights”. His impassioned document was to prevent the draft. “It denied the power to send our citizens away to foreign shores to shoot up the people of other lands, and added that words could not express the condemnation such cold-blooded ruthlessness deserves”. During times of peace, Schenck’s document may have been completely within the realm of the rights of a citizen, but his words were a threat to the smooth operation of the military as it was a time of war. It is similar to yelling fire in a crowded movie theatre when there is no fire: “The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theatre and causing a panic. It does not even protect a man from an injunction against uttering words that may have all the effect of force.” Schenck simply commited a crime that was an obstruction of the recruiting services.