Case Summary and Outcome

A U.S. District Court determined that the Espionage Act did not prohibit the publication or distribution of cartoons critical of U.S. government actions and that the failure of the Postal Service to deliver the magazine would violate the First Amendment. The Plaintiff’s monthly magazine published four cartoons, with text, that criticized United States involvement in WWI, which the Defendant-Postmaster refused to deliver, claiming that they violated the Espionage Act of 1917.  The court found that the cartoons were opinions protected by the First Amendment and could not be censored or suppressed by the government.

Facts

The Espionage Act of 1917 prohibits anyone from making “false statements with the intent to interfere with the operation or success of the military or naval forces of the United States or promote the success of its enemies;” “forbids any one from willfully causing insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or refusal of duty in the military or naval forces of the United States;” and “forbids any willful obstruction of the recruiting or enlistment service of the United States.”

Plaintiff’s monthly magazine published four cartoons, with text, that criticized the U.S.’s involvement in World War I. The Defendant-Postmaster refused to deliver the magazines, claiming that they violated the Espionage Act of 1917. Plaintiff filed a preliminary injunction, requesting that the Court require the Defendant to deliver its magazine because failure to do so violated the First Amendment right to freedom of speech, expression, and press.

Decision Overview

Judge Learned Hand determined that the Espionage Act does not prohibit the publication or distribution of the cartoons by mail, that the Plaintiff was not in violation of the Espionage Act, and that failure of the Defendant-Postmaster to mail the magazine would violate the First Amendment.  The Court found that the cartoons and texts, although critical of the U.S. government, were opinions protected by the First Amendment, and accordingly, they could not be censored or suppressed by the government.

The opinion was subsequently reversed.