Sedition
Sedition, Seditious Libel, Treason
Sedition: advocacy or action with the goal
of subverting or overthrowing the
government, but falling short of treason;
Seditious Libel: publishing or broadcasting
any statement that brings the government
or its officials into disrepute.
Treason: Levying war against one’s country,
or giving aid or comfort to its enemies
during war.
Seditious Libel
"De Scandalis Magnatum" prohibited
distribution of "any false News or
Tales, whereby discord, or occasion
of discord or slander may grow
between the King and his People, or
the Great Men of the Realm." [3
Edw. 1, ch. 34 (1275)]
Sedition Act of 1798 (1)
“if any person shall write, print, utter or publish,
or shall cause or procure to be written,
printed, uttered or published, or shall
knowingly and willingly assist or aid in writing,
printing, uttering or publishing any false,
scandalous and malicious writing or writings
against the government of the United States,
or either house of the Congress of the United
States, or the President of the United States,
Sedition Act of 1798 (2)
with intent to defame the said government,
or either house of the said Congress, or
the said President, or to bring them, or
either of them, into contempt or
disrepute; or to excite against them, or
either or any of them, the hatred of the
good people of the United States, or to stir
up sedition within the United States, or to
excite any unlawful combinations therein
Schenck v. U.S.
Schenck v. US (1919)
Clear and present danger test:
“whether the words used are used in
such circumstances and are of such
a nature as to create a clear and
present danger that they will bring
about the substantive evils that
Congress has a right to prevent.”
Speech or Act?
"The most stringent
protection of free speech
would not protect a man in
falsely shouting fire in a
theatre and causing a panic."
Abrams v. U.S.
Holmes’ dissent in Abrams
A classic of Pragmatist thought
“the best test of truth is the power
of the thought to get itself
accepted in the competition of the
market ... That at any rate is the
theory of our Constitution. It is an
experiment, as all life is an
experiment.”
Bad Tendency Test
Even a tendency to obstruct
government justifies prosecution
Government can extinguish spark
before it becomes a flame
• Abrams v. US (1919)
• Gitlow v. US (1925)
Gitlow v. New York
Dennis v. U.S.
Jackson in Dennis
“The statute before us repeats a pattern,
originally devised to combat the wave of
anarchistic terrorism that plagued this
country about the turn of the century,
which lags at least two generations behind
Communist Party techniques …
Anarchism's sporadic and uncoordinated
acts of terror were not integrated with an
effective revolutionary machine”
Jackson in Dennis
“the Communist stratagem outwits
the anti-anarchist pattern of statute
aimed against "overthrow by force
and violence" if qualified by the
doctrine that only "clear and present
danger" of accomplishing that result
will sustain the prosecution.”
Action, not Advocacy
Constitution protects advocacy and
teaching of revolution, but
prohibits advocacy of specific
illegal actions
Yates v. U.S. (1957)
Scales v. U.S. (1961)
Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969)
Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969)
Imminent lawless action test:
“free speech and free press do not
permit a State to forbid or proscribe
advocacy of the use of force or of law
violation except where such advocacy
is directed to inciting or producing
imminent lawless action and is likely
to incite or produce such action.”
Anarchists Cookbook (1)
3. Making Plastic Explosives from Bleach by
The Jolly Roger
Potassium chlorate is an extremely volatile
explosive compound, and has been used in
the past as the main explosive filler in
grenades, land mines, and mortar rounds by
such countries as France and Germany.
Common household bleach contains a small
amount of potassium chlorate, which can be
extracted by the procedure that follows.
Anarchists Cookbook (2)
3. Making Plastic Explosives from Bleach by The Jolly
Roger
First off, you must obtain:
1. A heat source (hot plate, stove, etc.)
2. A hydrometer, or battery hydrometer
3. A large Pyrex, or enameled steel container (to weigh
chemicals)
4. Potassium chloride(sold as a salt substitute at health
and nutrition stores)
Could the Anarchists Cookbook be
legally published?
1. Yes
2. No
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1
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2
Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project
It is a federal crime to “knowingly
provid[e] material support or resources
to a foreign terrorist organization.” The
authority to designate an entity a
“foreign terrorist organization” rests
with the Secretary of State, and is
subject to judicial review.
Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project
“[T]he term ‘material support or resources’ means
any property, tangible or intangible, or service,
including currency or monetary instruments or
financial securities, financial services, lodging,
training, expert advice or assistance, safehouses,
false documentation or identification,
communications equipment, facilities, weapons,
lethal substances, explosives, personnel (1 or
more individuals who may be or include
oneself), and transportation, except medicine or
religious materials.”