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Espionage Act a U.S. law passed by President Woodrow Wilson in 1917, shortly after the U.S. entered World War I. The Espionage Act made it a crime to convey information with the intent to interfere with the operation of the U.S. military or its recruitment of troops, to disclose information relating to national defense, or to promote the success of the country's enemies.
Schenck v. United States the U.S. Supreme Court case decided in 1919 that upheld the criminal conviction of the defendant for violation of the Espionage Act of 1917. In the majority opinion, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. argued that speech aimed to undermine military or naval operations during wartime presented a "clear and present danger" to the security of the country.
Sedition Act of 1918 a short-lived amendment to the U.S. Espionage Act of 1917 that listed offenses deemed criminal when the country is at war, including to willfully obstruct military recruitment and to print, write, or publish any disloyal or abusive language about the form of the U.S. federal government.