The Roaring 20’s Supreme Court Cases

Gitlow v. New York (1925)

A left-wing political activist was arrested under a state law that prohibited advocating the violent overthrow of the government after he distributed a pamphlet promoting abstract socialist ideas. His attorney argued that the pamphlet was protected speech under the First Amendment. Although no direct incitement to immediate unlawful action was proven, the defendant was convicted. The Supreme Court, by a 7–2 vote, upheld the conviction but, in doing so, incorporated the freedom of speech and press as fundamental rights protected by the Fourteenth Amendment’s due process clause against state infringement. The majority held that speech presenting a “sufficient danger” to public order justifies state intervention, while two dissenting Justices maintained that the speech in question did not meet the threshold for immediate harm under the clear and present danger standard.

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