If you order your research paper from our custom writing service you will receive a perfectly written assignment on hess v indiana. What we need from you is to provide us with your detailed paper instructions for our experienced writers to follow all of your specific writing requirements. Specify your order details, state the exact number of pages required and our custom writing professionals will deliver the best quality hess v indiana paper right on time. Out staff of freelance writers includes over 120 experts proficient in hess v indiana, therefore you can rest assured that your assignment will be handled by only top rated specialists. Order your hess v indiana paper at affordable prices !
Hess v. Indiana, 414 U.S. 105
In May 170, Gregory Hess took part in an antiwar demonstration on the campus of Indiana University. As the crowd of protesters grew to encompass 100 to 150 people “both the Sheriff’s Department and the Bloomington Police department were asked to help university officials and police remove demonstrators blocking doorways to a campus building” (Hess v. Indiana, 414 U.S. 105). After two arrests, remaining protesters moved onto streets and curbs and “did not respond to verbal directions from the sheriff to clear the streets” (Hess v. Indiana, 414 U.S. 105 (17)). While the sheriff and other officers tried to disperse the remaining demonstrators, Mr. Hess, stood on a nearby curb and shouted, “We’ll take the fucking street later” or “We’ll take the fucking street again” (Hess v. Indiana, 414 U.S. 105). The Sheriff reacted by arresting Mr. Hess and charging him with “disorderly conduct” (Hess v. Indiana, 414 U.S. 105).
According to witnesses at the trial, Hess’s words were “no louder than other statements by other demonstrators” and he didn’t “appear to be addressing any particular person or group” (Hess v. Indiana, 414 U.S. 105 (17)). Therefore, the court utilized “Indiana’s disorderly conduct statute” and only Hess’s words were punished (Hess v. Indiana, 414 U.S. 105 (17)). However, when the case went before the Indiana Supreme Court they found “Hess’s statement was intended to incite further lawless action on the part of the crowd in the vicinity of the appellant and was likely to produce such action” (Hess v. Indiana, 414 U.S. 105). Thus, the State Court ruled Mr. Hess’s speech was not protected because it was “producing imminent lawless action” (Brandenburg v. Ohio, 5 U.S. 444 (16) and posed a “clear and present danger” (Hess v. Indiana, 414 U.S. 105). So the question emerged can speech pose a clear and present danger if it is not directed at a specific group of individuals? Mr. Hess believed that it could not and deemed his 1st amendment right to free speech had been violated. Therefore, he took his case before the United States Supreme Court.
The United States Supreme Court disagreed with the Indiana court’s findings and in a per curiam opinion found that “there was no evidence” from the witnesses “or rational inference from the import of language, that his words were intended to produce, and likely to produce, imminent disorder” (Hess v. Indiana, 414 U.S. 105 (17)). In other words, the court held that for speech to be considered a clear and present danger it must prove to “incite imminent action” (Hess v. Indiana, 414 U.S. 105 (17)). Therefore, Mr. Hess’s speech was protected since it could not be proven that it presented any substantiated threat of action “that might be harmful to the nation” (Pember 5). Justice Rehnquist’s and Justice Blackmun’s dissent questioned the validity of the witness’s statements that testified on behalf of the defendant and found the decision questionable, since the ruling was heavily based on the delivery of Hess’s statement from their testimony. They concurred there was no concrete evidence showing to whom the statement was directed, and because of this uncertainty it was difficult to presume if action was being called upon.
Online essay help on hess v indiana
Hess v. Indiana, 414 U.S. 105 (17) is an important case because it challenged “Justice Holmes’s clear and present danger test” which first appeared in his “opinion for the court” in the prior restraint case of Schneck v. U.S., 4 U.S. 47 (11) (Redish). This test can also be found in the other prior restraint cases of Abrams v. U.S., 50 U.S. 616 (11), Gitlow v. New York, 68 U.S. 65 (15), Whitney v. California 74 U.S. 57 (17), Dennis v. U.S., 41 U.S. 44 (151), Yates v. U.S., 54 U.S. 8 (157) and Brandenburg v. Ohio 5 U.S. 444 (16), but all of theses cases left “unresolved questions about the test” (Redish ). Therefore, Hess’s case further questioned “how much protection the first amendment gives to speech which advocates unlawful conduct” (Redish )? In addition, it proved that to prosecute on the basis of “clear and present danger” “some imminence” must occur from the speech (Redish ).
Works Cited
“Hess v. Indiana, No. 7-50.” Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe. Online. Internet. May
00.
Pember, Don R. Mass Media Law. 001-00 ed. New York McGraw-Hill, 001-00.
Redish, Martin. “Advocacy of Unlawful Conduct and the First Amendment In Defense of
Clear and Present Danger.” Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe. Online. Internet. 10 May 00.
United States. Supreme Court. Hess v. Indiana, 414 U.S. 105 (17). Online. Internet.
http//caselaw.findlaw.com/us/5/444.html. May 00.
Please note that this sample paper on hess v indiana is for your review only. In order to eliminate any of the plagiarism issues, it is highly recommended that you do not use it for you own writing purposes. In case you experience difficulties with writing a well structured and accurately composed paper on hess v indiana, we are here to assist you. Your paper on hess v indiana will be written from scratch, so you do not have to worry about its originality. Order your authentic assignment and you will be amazed at how easy it is to complete a quality custom paper within the shortest time possible!