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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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Quillinit
11:58
ah okay, sorry homie that's rough
it's fine i got into one of my top choices so im really happy
Quillinit
11:58
<3 happy for you
getting into cornell is hugeee
ayyyyy
Quillinit
11:59
^^^^^ would love to get into Cornell lmao
Quillinit
11:59
or anywhere!
you got it, believeeee
12:06
@letsseehowitgoesnow: you okay?
12:08
@ KnowledgeableRitzyWasp did u withdraw frm all your classes for two years or just a few? i have 2 W's
12:23
listening to the front bottoms at the gym again ist es over fur mich?
My wife and I saw TFB with manchester orchestra the night before thanksgiving a few years back and it was pretty damn choice
shaquilleoatmeal
12:27
yoo lets dawg what happened, you good?
12:28
breakup
12:28
happens to the best of us
12:28
@UnsuitableMaliciousHedgehog: that’s so fucking sick
rough night and morning with ex :/. we broke up but we live together
shaquilleoatmeal
12:29
damn ;/ it is break up season dawg, i'm sorry you're going through that
12:29
it really is breakup season
shaquilleoatmeal
12:29
i lived with my ex for 3 months after we broke up and it was brutal. If you can move out quicker rather than later
thanks shaq! i just needed some input from people who are looking from the outside in
im gonna pack up my stuff and leave for a few days when i get off work
12:31
sometimes I think about things my ex said and did to me and a year later it still makes me so sad that I ever let myself be treated that way
shaquilleoatmeal
12:32
yee bud clear your head how you need, shit sometimes even just driving with no destination and some sad ass music can get you through this
shaquilleoatmeal
12:32
you grow through what you go through bunny, you know for the next relationship what you deserve
I want to run you guys through a scenario to see what yall think. Go to off topic for the one time lol
12:34
gotchu
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