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Speech & Press
Abrams v. United States
Decided: 1919
In brief
Upheld convictions for anti-war leafleting; source of Justice Holmes's influential dissent on the 'marketplace of ideas.'
The Court's ruling in depth
Months after Schenck, Holmes dissented from the affirmance of Espionage Act convictions in Abrams, arguing that 'the best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market.' His dissent is one of the most cited passages in First Amendment history and reshaped free-speech jurisprudence for the next century.