clear and present danger

The phrase "clear and present danger" is a legal standard established by the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1919 case Schenck v. United States. This ruling stated that the freedom of speech protected by the First Amendment can be restricted if the words spoken or written pose a "clear and present danger" of bringing about substantive evils that Congress has the right to prevent.12

This standard was applied in the context of World War I, where individuals distributing leaflets opposing the military draft were prosecuted under the Espionage Act. The Court upheld the conviction, with Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., writing that speech, while often protected, can be prohibited when it creates a clear and present danger of harm. However, the Court later moved away from this strict standard in favor of broader restrictions on speech.1