Key Supreme Court Rulings on Freedom of the Press

Perhaps surprisingly, the First Amendment did not figure prominently in the Supreme Court's rulings throughout much of American history. In the twentieth century, however, the Court heard several cases concerning the freedoms of speech and the press. Many of these cases regarding freedom of speech and the press concern the rights of citizens to criticize their government. The following are only a few of Court's most important rulings.

During World War I, the Court upheld restrictions on freedom of speech and the press. In an effort to suppress opposition to the war, Congress passed the Espionage and Sedition Acts, which prohibited criticism of the government's conduct of the war, the military, the Constitution, or the flag. Some newspapers and magazines that opposed the policies of President Woodrow Wilson were barred from publishing and distributing their ideas under the provisions of this act. In the case of Schenck v. U.S. (1919), the Supreme Court upheld the Espionage Act's restrictions on free speech during wartime. According to the Court, war sometimes entailed curtailing the freedoms that Americans generally enjoyed during peacetime, and harsh attacks on the government posed a "clear and present danger." Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. famously remarked that freedom of speech was not absolute, citing the example that no one had a right to shout "Fire!" in a crowded theater. That same year, in Abrams v. U.S. (1919), the Court similarly declared the Sedition Act to be constitutional, upholding the convictions of Americans who had opposed American efforts to invade and topple the new communist government of the U.S.S.R. Interestingly, Justice Holmes dissented from the Abrams decision, arguing that, barring an immediate danger to the U.S., all opinions ought to be allowed into the "marketplace" of ideas.