Abrams v. United States
E56207
Abrams v. United States was a 1919 U.S. Supreme Court case that upheld the conviction of antiwar activists under federal law and is best known for Justice Holmes’s famous dissent articulating the “marketplace of ideas” concept in free speech jurisprudence.
Aliases (2)
Statements (51)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
First Amendment case
→
U.S. Supreme Court case → free speech case → |
| category |
United States Supreme Court cases of the White Court
→
United States free speech case law → |
| citation |
250 U.S. 616
→
40 S. Ct. 17 → 63 L. Ed. 1173 → |
| constitutionalProvisionInterpreted |
First Amendment
→
|
| country |
United States
→
|
| decisionDate |
1919-11-10
→
|
| defendants |
Hyman Lachowsky
→
Jacob Abrams → Jacob Schwartz → Mollie Steimer → Samuel Lipman → |
| dissentingOpinionBy |
Louis D. Brandeis
→
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. → |
| era |
World War I free speech cases
→
|
| famousFor |
Justice Holmes’s dissenting opinion
→
articulation of the marketplace of ideas concept → |
| fullName |
Jacob Abrams et al. v. United States
→
|
| historicalContext |
United States participation in World War I
→
|
| holding |
held that the leaflets posed a sufficient danger to be punished under the Espionage Act as amended
→
upheld convictions of defendants for distributing leaflets criticizing U.S. involvement in World War I → |
| introducedConcept |
marketplace of ideas in free speech jurisprudence
→
|
| jurisdiction |
Supreme Court of the United States
→
|
| legalIssue |
Espionage Act of 1917
→
First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution → Sedition Act of 1918 → freedom of speech → |
| majorityOpinionBy |
John Hessin Clarke
→
|
| relatedCase |
Debs v. United States
→
Frohwerk v. United States → Gitlow v. New York → Schenck v. United States → |
| result |
convictions affirmed
→
|
| speechContent |
call for a general strike in munitions production
→
criticism of U.S. intervention in Russia after the Bolshevik Revolution → |
| speechTypeAtIssue |
leaflets in English and Yiddish
→
|
| standardAppliedByMajority |
bad tendency test
→
|
| standardDiscussedInDissent |
clear and present danger test
→
|
| statuteApplied |
Espionage Act of 1917
→
Sedition Act of 1918 → |
| subsequentInfluence |
cited in later Supreme Court opinions on the First Amendment
→
influenced later free speech jurisprudence → |
| topic |
World War I dissent
→
antiwar activism → political speech → |
| vote |
7–2
→
|
| yearDecided |
1919
→
|
Referenced by (6)
| Subject (surface form when different) | Predicate |
|---|---|
|
Frohwerk v. United States
→
Schenck v. United States → |
relatedCase |
|
Abrams v. United States
("Jacob Abrams et al. v. United States")
→
|
fullName |
|
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
("Abrams v. United States dissent")
→
|
notableWork |
|
Sedition Act of 1918
→
|
relatedTo |
|
Espionage Act of 1917
→
|
usedInCase |