This is Judge Learned Hand’s opinion in the court case Masses Publishing Company v. T. G. Patten, Postmaster of the City of New York. Judge Hand agreed with The Masses, a socialist magazine dedicated to “radical art and freedom of expression” after they were accused of violating the Espionage Act of 1917. It was the only court case that supported freedom of the press during World War I.
The act also gave the Post Office the power to seize any controversial periodical that went through the mail as “non-mailable.“ The Masses August issue was seized by New York City’s Postmaster T. G. Patten. Judge Hand supported the right of The Masses to publish by saying nothing within the journal directly advocated resistance to the law.
The Government appealed and indicted seven staff members of The Masses for espionage. After two hung juries and with the war already over, the government decided to stop prosecution in the case.
The Federal Government made over 2,000 arrests and 1,000 convictions in relation to the Espionage act, commonly called the Sedition Act.
This document is featured in the primary source-based student workbook “Putting the Bill of Rights to the Test.”
