Debs v. United States
| Debs v. United States | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Supreme Court of the United States |
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| Argued January 27–28, 1919 Decided March 10, 1919 |
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| Full case name | Debs v. United States | |||||
| Citations | 249 U.S. 211 (more) 39 S.Ct. 252 |
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| Holding | ||||||
| Judgment affirmed | ||||||
| Court membership | ||||||
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| Case opinions | ||||||
| Majority | Holmes | |||||
| Laws applied | ||||||
| Sedition Act of 1918 | ||||||
Debs v. United States, 249 U.S. 211 (1919), was a United States Supreme Court decision that upheld the Espionage Act of 1917.
Eugene V. Debs was an American labor and political leader and five-time Socialist Party of America candidate for the American Presidency. On June 16, 1918 Debs made an anti-war speech in Canton, Ohio, protesting US involvement in World War I, and he was subsequently arrested under the Espionage Act of 1917. He was convicted and sentenced to serve ten years in prison and disenfranchised for life.
The case against Debs was presented in a document entitled Anti-War Proclamation and Program showing that Debs's original intent was to openly protest against the war. The argument of the Federal Government was that Debs was attempting to arouse mutiny and treason by preventing the drafting of soldiers into the United States Army. This sort of sentiment and speech was outlawed in United States with the Espionage Act of June 15, 1917. The argument in favor of Debs was that he was entitled to the rights of free speech provided for under the first amendment of the Bill of Rights.
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[edit] The court's decision
In its ruling on Debs v. United States, the Court examined several statements Debs had made regarding the war. While Debs had carefully guarded his speeches in an attempt to comply with the Espionage Act, the Court found he had still shown the "intention and effect of obstructing the draft and recruitment for the war." Among other things, the Court cited Debs's praise for those imprisoned for obstructing the draft. In his opinion, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. stated that little attention was needed since Debs's case was essentially the same as Schenck v. United States, where the Court upheld a similar conviction. The Supreme Court decided against Debs, and maintained the power of the Espionage Act, sentencing Debs to ten years imprisonment, and a loss of his citizenship.
[edit] Subsequent developments
Debs went to prison on April 13, 1919. While in prison in Oregon, he ran for president in the 1920 Election for the fifth and final time, though he had lost his citizenship. He received 919,799 votes (3.4% of the popular vote),[1] the most ever for a Socialist Party presidential candidate in the U.S. and slightly more than his 900,672 total in the 1912 election,[1] which equaled six percent of the popular vote. (National women's suffrage in 1920 greatly increased the total number of votes cast.)
The Espionage and Sedition Acts were largely repealed in 1921, and on December 25, 1921 President Warren G. Harding pardoned Debs from prison.
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