What did Gitlow v. New York decide about state limits on free speech?

In Gitlow v. New York (1925), the U.S. Supreme Court established a landmark precedent regarding state authority and the First Amendment. While the Court upheld Benjamin Gitlow’s conviction for criminal anarchy, it ruled that the First Amendment’s protections of free speech and press are "fundamental personal rights and 'liberties'" protected from impairment by state governments through the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.1

This decision was significant because it marked the first time the Court held that state governments must adhere to the same free speech standards as the federal government. However, in doing so, the Court rejected the "clear and present danger" test in favor of the "bad tendency" test. This allowed states to suppress speech that merely advocated for potential violence, even if no immediate disturbance was likely, arguing that states need not wait for actual harm to occur before taking measures to ensure their own safety. This restrictive standard was later abandoned by the Court in favor of more robust protections for speech.1