Which case established the 'clear and present danger' test for restricting free speech?

• A. Schenck v. United States
• B. Buckley v. Valeo
• C. Kelo v. City of New London
• D. Brown v. Board of Education

Answer: (A)

The main idea tested is when government can restrict speech by showing it poses a clear and present danger. In the 1919 case during World War I, the defendant distributed pamphlets urging resistance to the draft and was convicted under the Espionage Act. The Court upheld that conviction, articulating that First Amendment protection does not extend to speech that creates a clear and present danger of evading the draft or obstructing military recruitment. The famous example about falsely shouting fire in a theater is used to illustrate the line between protected speech and punishable actions. This decision established the clear and present danger standard. Later developments refined the framework (notably replacing it with the imminent lawless action standard in Brandenburg), but the establishment of the test comes from this case. The other listed cases deal with different constitutional issues (campaign finance, eminent domain, and racial segregation) and do not set this speech-restriction standard.