Charles Schenck was an American socialist, the Secretary of a local of the Socialist Party of America. He is notable for his involvement in the 1919 court case Schenck v. United States. Schenck had been indicted and tried for distributing 15,000 subversive leaflets to prospective military draftees during World War I. The leaflets urged the potential draftees to refuse to serve if drafted, on the grounds that it constituted "involuntary servitude", which is prohibited by the 13th Amendment. The federal government's position was that Schenck's actions violated the Espionage Act of 1917. Schenck was convicted, but appealed to the United States Supreme Court, arguing that the court decision violated the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. However, the Court upheld Schenck's conviction on the Grounds that: "The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theatre and causing a panic... The question in every case is whether the words are used in such circumstances and are of such nature as to create a clear and present danger that they will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent." (Decision written by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.)
