Abrams v. US

US Supreme Court decision of 1919 dealing with First Amendment rights in instances of sedition or espionage. Abrams, convicted of publishing pamphlets criticizing the US role in World War I and encouraging resistance to the war, appealed to the Supreme Court for protection under the right to free speech. The Court upheld the 1918 Sedition Law, ruling that Congress had the right to restrict speech that had a ‘tendency’ toward harmful results. A famous dissent was filed by Justices Holmes and Brandeis.