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Simple English definitions for legal terms

clear and present danger

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A quick definition of clear and present danger:

The clear and present danger test is a rule used to determine if a particular speech is protected by the First Amendment. It originated in a court case called Schenck v. the United States. The test has two conditions: the speech must pose a real threat of causing harm, and the harm must be imminent. The rule has been applied in cases involving criminal prosecutions, picketing, and incitement to commit crimes, among others. However, it does not apply to cases involving antitrust laws, libel, or school property use. The test was further clarified in cases like Brandenburg v. Ohio and Hess v. Indiana.

A more thorough explanation:

The clear and present danger test is a standard used to determine whether a particular speech is protected by the First Amendment or not. It originated in the case of Schenck v. the United States and states that speech may not be restrained or punished unless it creates a clear and present danger of bringing about a substantial evil.

The clear and present danger test has two conditions: the speech must pose a threat of a substantive evil, and the threat must be real and imminent. The court must identify and quantify both the nature of the threatened evil and the imminence of the perceived danger.

The clear and present danger test has been applied in cases involving criminal prosecutions for opposition to war, statutes penalizing the advocacy of the overthrow of the government by force or violence, attacks on courts or judges, picketing, regulation of prison inmates' access to newspapers, periodicals, and so forth, incitement to commit crimes, and breach of the peace or disorderly conduct.

However, the rule has been held not applicable to cases involving antitrust laws, libel cases, statutes regulating the conduct of labor union affairs, statutes governing the use of school property for non-school purposes, and demonstrations in an inappropriate place, such as before a courthouse.

In Brandenburg v. Ohio, the defendant, a leader of a Ku Klux Klan, had arranged for a television station to cover his speech at a Klan rally. Ohio’s court ruled that the statement falls into the scope of clear and present danger.

In Hess v. Indiana, an anti-war demonstrator had been arrested for stating, “We'll take the fucking street later.” A majority of the Court reversed his conviction. The United States Supreme Court ruled that the statement is not a “clear and present danger” because the statement does not impose an imminent danger to society.

These examples illustrate how the clear and present danger test is used to determine whether speech is protected by the First Amendment or not. The Brandenburg case shows that speech that poses a clear and present danger can be restricted, while the Hess case shows that speech that does not pose an imminent danger cannot be restricted.

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concorde
19:42
Serotonin so good
1a2b3c4d26z
19:42
top 5 of all time and it aint 4
babycat
19:43
We sharing Goodreads on here?
1a2b3c4d26z
19:43
jurassic park unironically good
1a2b3c4d26z
19:43
crime and punishment top 1
1a2b3c4d26z
19:43
im okay with being called basic for that one
2big2fail
19:44
im gatekeeping my current book
Dkk
19:44
@2big2fail: looks like an Aristotle wannabe.
2big2fail
19:44
whatever. im just reading the financial times
1a2b3c4d26z
19:44
ft goated
concorde
19:45
I hate Dostoevsky
2big2fail
19:45
studying cloud computing, not the cloud of unknowing
babycat
19:45
@1a2b3c4d26z: serotonin is my fave houellebecq
1a2b3c4d26z
19:45
chefs kiss mwah
2big2fail
19:45
i honestly dont understand why people like houellebecq
1a2b3c4d26z
19:45
I'll try to describe how I feel about him
2big2fail
19:46
my favorite french authors are balzac and proust, as basic as that is
1a2b3c4d26z
19:46
basically I read his book and the whole time I read it I liked it so I finished it and I said hm I liked that book written by the author houellebecq
1a2b3c4d26z
19:46
balzac hahaha
2big2fail
19:46
lost illusions is goated
does it take longer to hear back if u applied to scholarships for schools like ucla???
Dkk
19:47
For Houellebecq I have only read https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomised
JumpySubsequentDolphin
19:47
you guys should read averroes
also do we think ucla wont do a wave tmw cuz they did a tiny one tonight, can schools do 2 days ina. row
JumpySubsequentDolphin
19:47
perhaps read the incoherence of philosophy first and then read averroes’ response: “the incoherence of the incoherence”
2big2fail
19:47
@Dkk: i read that one. just thought it was boring and not really in touch with reality
JumpySubsequentDolphin
19:47
SPLITTY usually they’re Friday!
Dkk
19:48
@2big2fail: I agree.
HUH then what the heck is this wave tonight ab are they tryna give us an attack???
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