Question

According to Holmes, what factor made Schenck’s actions, which at other times would have been protected by the First Amendment, illegal at the time he performed them?

Answer 1

He described arguments in favor of the draft as coming from cunning politicians and a mercenary capitalist press. For these actions Schenck was convicted of conspiracy to violate the Espionage Act by attempting to obstruct the recruitment of men into the United States’s armed forces. Schenck challenged his conviction on the grounds that his First Amendment rights had been violated.