Abrams v. United States

The Court upheld convictions of anarchist pamphleteers, but Justice Holmes's dissent launched the modern theory of free speech.

Overview

Jacob Abrams and four co-defendants printed leaflets attacking American intervention in Russia and urging workers to strike. The Court affirmed the convictions under the Espionage Act amendments, finding intent to cripple war production. Justice Holmes, joined by Justice Brandeis, dissented, arguing that opinion should be punished only when it presents an immediate danger, and that the ultimate good is better reached by free trade in ideas, with the best test of truth the power of a thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market. That dissent became the seed of modern First Amendment law.