The Supreme Court held that praising resisters could itself obstruct recruiting
Evidence
- The case, Debs v. U.S., was one of three cases where the Court had upheld the Espionage Act convictions during the war that restricted free speech. In preparing his speech at Canton, Ohio, Debs had been careful to comply with the act and claimed to deliver a speech predominately for the purpose of “Socialism, its growth, and a prophecy of its ultimate success.” Nonetheless, the Court identified parts of the speech, which sympathized and praised individuals convicted for obstructing the enlistment service, and concluded that one could construe such parts as encouragement to those present to act similarly. As such, the Court found that “one purpose of the speech, whether incidental or not…was to oppose not only war in general but this war, and that the opposition was so expressed that its natural and intended effect would be to obstruct recruiting.” — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 1207
Categorization
- XREF: Connects to broader history of First Amendment repression during wartime; echoes of Espionage Act suppression of dissent.