The U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969) established that the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment even protects speech that advocates violence, unless the message is directed to incite:
Explanation
Answer: B - Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969) established that one’s freedom of speech included calls to violence, unless the speech incited “imminent lawless action.” The event at the heart of the case was a Ku Klux Klan rally (which was filmed) during which Clarence Brandenburg encouraged his audience to take “revengeance” [sic] against African-Americans and people of the Jewish faith. The court decided that Brandenburg’s statement only advocated violence in a generalized manner but did not call for a specific act of violence to occur at a specific time in the near future. Due to the lack of specificity, the court deemed the statement to be an act of free speech and, therefore, not criminal. For the statement to be criminal, it would have had to include speech that made the threat of violence likely and imminent. For example, if Brandenburg had encouraged the audience members to meet at a specific location the next day to commit an act of violence, that would have been criminal.
